What happens to the favorite
KT Wiz lost 5-8 in its first showdown of the season against the Doosan Bears in the 2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League held at Suwon KT Wiz Park on the 26th.
KT first took the lead in the early stages. In the top of the second inning, Huh Kyung-min gave up the first run after an RBI double, but in the bottom of the second inning with Hwang Jae-gyun's walk and Jang Seong-woo's hit to the first and second bases, Chun Sung-ho and Kim Sang-soo made timely hits, and Bae Jung-dae hit a sacrifice fly to the right field to lead the team to a 3-1 come-from-behind victory. He continued his momentum by scoring seven runs in the ninth inning against Samsung in Suwon on Monday, before hitting a powerful hit in the right field. 토토사이트먹튀
However, Doosan's batters failed to withstand the firepower of the mound that they trusted. There were two chances to win. First, starter Wes Benjamin faced home runs off Yang Eui-ji (solo home run) and Kang Seung-ho (two-run homer) in the top of the fourth inning, allowing the team to come from behind 3-4. When meeting Yang Eui-ji, who had a shot, the slider came to the center at 1B-2S, and Kang's cutter was low against Kang, but the result was a 120-meter left-wall home run.
KT's lead Jang Sung-woo and Chun Sung-ho were on second and third bases with consecutive hits and a foil in the bottom of the sixth inning when they were losing 3-4. Kim Sang-soo only hit a grounder to the third base, but Bae Jung-dae hit a timely RBI to the right and Kim Min-hyuk succeeded in a series of infield grounder, reversing the score to 5-4.
Coach Lee Kang-chul chose Woo Kyu-min, a 39-year-old veteran, as his must-win strategy to keep his lead with one point at the top of the seventh inning. After moving from Samsung to KT through the second draft, Woo earned his first hold with no run in ⅔ innings at the match against Samsung in Suwon on Sunday. It was Woo's 107th hold in his career.
Unfortunately, however, the team managed to secure its second win in the seventh inning. It was the cause of his loss due to a missed hit that he allowed to the leadoff Kang Seung-ho. Later, he met Park Joon-young at the second and third bases with no outs and a double by Heo Kyung-min, and had a timely hit for an RBI that fell into an exquisite place between the second and shortstop. Second baseman Cheonseong-ho attempted a sliding catch, but it was not enough. Woo Kyu-min failed to catch any out count, and handed the baton to Lee Sang-dong.
Lee Sang-dong took a breather after striking out Kim In-tae as pinch hitter. However, he allowed Jeong Su-bin to turn the game around for a sacrifice fly, and gave up a timely RBI against Henry Ramos. Two successors of Woo Kyu-min both entered the game.
KT's mound continued to falter. Kang, who took the mound in the eighth inning when his team was losing 5-7, gave up his win completely by hitting an RBI timely hit by Kang Seung-ho when his team was on the verge of hitting the third base with one out.
In the batting lineup, Park Byung-ho, Kang Baek-ho, and Hwang Jae-gyun, both No. 4, and No. 6, also suffered poor performances. Park had three strikeouts, but had no hits in the ninth inning when his win was over, and Kang had no hits, two strikeouts in five times at bat, and Hwang had no hits, one walk and four strikeouts in four times at bat, which was not enough to end his losing streak.
KT failed to win for the first time again due to Tuesday's game loss, and has been mired in three consecutive losses since the opening of the season. It is the first time in four years that KT has lost its opening three consecutive games since 2020. At that time, it suffered a sweep loss against the Lotte Giants at home from May 5 to 7, and then held Doosan in Jamsil on Tuesday and ended its losing streak.
KT was classified as one of the three strongest teams that could seek to win along with the LG Twins and the KIA Tigers prior to the season. Strengths were the solid starters leading to William Cuevas, Wes Benjamin, Ko Young-pyo and Um Sang-baek, the return of "MVP" Mel Rojas Jr., and the bullpen, which has abundant available resources such as Park Young-hyun, Son Dong-hyun, Soju, Kim Min-soo, Park Si-young and Lee Sang-dong.
When I opened the lid, the mound was not fully awakened from hibernation. The starting pitchers always go through the build-up process early in the season, but the pitchers of the winning team failed to elevate their physical condition to the level Lee wanted. KT often used the "win equation" in which a starter takes charge of a long inning and uses a bullpen session, but it managed the mound after three games due to difficulties due to bullpen session difficulties overlapping with the starter's small number of innings.
KT is set to re-challenge its first win of this season by banking on its '10.7 billion native ace' Ko Young-pyo on Wednesday. "I think I have to play a little more season to boost my pace. All the players will see a better performance than now," Lee said, hoping for a rebound.