SUWON, South Korea– The KT Wiz will live to see another day in South Korean baseball postseason, after coming from behind to defeat the Kiwoom Heroes 9-6 on Thursday at home to even up their series.
Kang Baek-ho hit his first career postseason home run and scored twice for the defending Korean Series champions, while veteran Hwang Jae-gyun broke out of a slump with a two-run double at KT Wiz Park in Suwon, some 35 kilometers south of Seoul. The teams are now tied at two games apiece in this best-of-five series, with the deciding fifth game scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday at the Heroes’ home, Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul.
KT starter So Hyeong-jun held the Heroes to two runs over six solid innings, improving to 3-0 for his postseason career. He escaped a one-out, two-on situation in the third without allowing a run and got an inning-ending double play to end a one-out threat in the next inning, too.
After giving up 16 hits in a 9-2 loss Wednesday, the Wiz gave the Heroes a taste of their own medicine with 15 hits Thursday.
For the second straight game, the Heroes scored in the first inning, with Lee Jung-hoo driving home Lee Yong-kyu with a double. That hit stretched Lee Jung-hoo’s postseason record hitting streak to 17 games.
The Heroes doubled their lead in the top third. With runners at the corners, Kim Hye-seong chopped a groundball to second baseman Oh Yoon-suk, who fielded the ball moving to his left but made a wide throw to first. That allowed Kim Jun-wan to trot home for a 2-0 lead.
The Wiz stranded two runners in the first and another in the second, before finally getting a run back in the third inning.
With Kiwoom starter Jeong Chan-heon pulled after two scoreless frames, Kang Baek-ho cut the deficit in half with a towering solo homer off new pitcher Han Hyun-hee. It was Kang’s first career postseason home run.
The Wiz then claimed the lead with two outs in the bottom fifth. After Bae Jung-dae doubled, Han elected to walk Kang intentionally.
Anthony Alford then made the Heroes pay with a game-tying single up the middle, chasing Han from the game.
Facing reliever Choi Won-tae, cleanup Park Byung-ho dumped a single to shallow left field, and Kang slid home for a 3-2 Wiz lead.
“When we were down by a couple of runs, Kang Baek-ho’s big blast kept us in the game,” KT manager Lee Kang-chul said. “Then we got those huge runs with two outs in the fifth, and that really swung the momentum in our favor.”
Lee added So’s ability to pitch out of jams in early innings made a huge difference, saying, “If we’d allowed a couple more runs in those innings, it would have been tough for us to play catch-up.”
The Wiz extended their lead with a pair of runs in the sixth. An infield single and a sacrifice bunt put a runner at second for Shim Woo-jun, who doubled in that run after a nine-pitch battle against reliever Kim Dong-hyeok.
Bae Jung-dae followed with a single to put the Wiz up 5-2.
The Heroes responded with two runs in the top seventh.
Reliever Kim Min-su hit a batter and then allowed two straight singles, the latter being Kim Jun-wan’s RBI knock to right field.
The Wiz turned to 19-year-old reliever Park Yeong-hyun, who limited further damage to a sacrifice fly by Lee Jung-hoo.
But for every Heroes rally, the Wiz had an answer. They put up a three-spot in the bottom seventh. After a double and a walk, Hwang Jae-gyun delivered a double off the left field wall to open up a 7-4 lead. Hwang then slid under the tag at the plate to score on Song Min-sub’s single.
Kim Whee-jip’s two-run blast in the top eighth brought the Heroes within two at 8-6, but the Wiz got another run across in the bottom eighth thanks to third baseman Song Sung-mun’s throwing error.
The Heroes’ bullpen imploded, giving up all nine of the Wiz’s runs over the final six innings.
Kiwoom manager Hong Won-ki said he was going to pull starter Jeong after the first through the order regardless of the score. He didn’t regret that decision but lamented some poor execution by his relievers, namely Han, who allowed two-out runs in the fifth.
“Han Hyun-hee got the first two outs there with ease, and we hoped he would get Alford, because we felt his timing at the plate was a bit off,” Hong said. “We were ready to go with a new pitcher in the new inning. But we were forced to make a pitching change after Alford’s hit. That was disappointing.”
Source: Yonhap News Agency