SEOUL– The defending South Korean baseball champions KT Wiz moved within a win of earning a bye to the first round of the postseason Monday, thanks to a come-from-behind victory over the NC Dinos in their penultimate regular season game.
Catcher Jang Sung-woo belted a go-ahead three-run home run, and slugger Park Byung-ho delivered a two-run dinger off the bench, as the Wiz edged out the Dinos 5-2 at KT Wiz Park in Suwon, some 35 kilometers south of Seoul.
The Wiz have already secured a ticket to the postseason, but they are trying to move straight into the first round instead of going through the wild card series against the fifth-seed Kia Tigers.
Monday’s victory kept the Wiz in third place at 80-61-2 (wins-losses-ties), just ahead of the Kiwoom Heroes, who have finished their regular season at 80-62-2. If the Wiz beat the LG Twins in their final regular season game Tuesday, then they will secure the No. 3 seed and reach the first round. In that scenario, the Heroes will end up in fourth place and host the Tigers in the wild card series starting Wednesday.
However, if the Wiz lose, they will end up in fourth place and drop into the wild card affair. The Wiz will have an identical record as the Heroes in this case, but the Heroes own the tiebreaker after winning the season series 8-7-1.
If the Wiz fall to fourth place, then the start of the wild card series will be pushed back by a day to Thursday, so that the Wiz will have an extra day of rest. Both the Heroes and the Tigers completed their regular season Saturday.
The Twins have a bye to the second round, while the SSG Landers, the regular season champions, have advanced directly to the Korean Series.
On this chilly and rainy afternoon, No Jin-hyuk gave the visiting Dinos a 1-0 lead with a two-out single in the top of the first.
But the Wiz grabbed the lead with one swing of the bat. With two men aboard, Jang fouled off three straight fastballs from Kim Tae-gyeong at 0-2 count before clubbing a hanging slider into left field seats and giving the Wiz a 3-1 lead.
The Dinos got a run back in the top eighth, courtesy of Jeong Beom-mo’s RBI single.
The Wiz summoned closer Kim Jae-yoon with two outs in the eighth, looking to lock down the narrow win. With a runner at first, Oh Young-soo hit an infield single to the hole on the right side, putting the tying run just 90 feet away.
But Kim Jae-yoon cleaned up the mess by striking out Kim Ju-won with a high fastball.
The Wiz got some much-needed breathing room in the bottom eighth, as Park Byung-ho smacked a pinch-hit, two-run homer off reliever Song Myung-gi. It was Park’s league-leading 35th home run this season.
Park has made a stunning comeback after suffering what the Wiz had feared would be a season-ending ankle injury on Sept. 10. Though he has been limited to pinch-hitting duties, Park has made the most of those opportunities. He has now homered in two consecutive pinch-hit at-bats.
Wiz starter Wes Benjamin gave up one run on five hits and struck out eight in six innings to finish the season at 5-4 with a 2.70 ERA in 17 starts. Benjamin signed in May as a midseason replacement for William Cuevas.
Source: Yonhap News Agency