The KT Wiz of the Korean Baseball Organization has finally exploded.
The team defeated the NC Dinos 11-2 on the road in the fourth game of the best-of-five postseason playoffs for the baseball 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League at Changwon NC Park on Wednesday.
After dropping the first and second games at home, KT won the third and fourth games on the road to even the series at two games apiece and dragged the playoffs to the final five games.
KT’s bats finally woke up… 3 home runs for ‘Pungpung’
KT’s poor batting performance in Games 1 and 2 was painful. Although they won the third game, their offense was still unsatisfactory as they only managed to score three runs. However, the fourth game was different. They pounded out 14 hits, including three home runs, and scored double-digit runs.
In the first inning, with runners on first and third, Park Byung-ho hit a single off the wall, and Jang Sung-woo’s sacrifice fly drove in pinch-hitter Anthony Alford to score the first two runs.
After taking control of the game, KT put runners on second and third in the second inning, forcing NC starter Song Myung-ki off the mound after just 1.1 innings. NC brought up Lee Jae-hak, but he gave up a run on a wild pitch, followed by a timely double to Hwang Jae-gyun.
In the third inning, after taking advantage of NC’s sloppy defense, Bae Jae-dae hit a two-run double, and in the fourth inning, Hwang Jae-gyun hit a solo home run.
KT then scored two runs in each inning from the first to the fourth to take an 8-0 lead, driving a wedge into the game early. In the eighth inning, Alford also hit a solo home run.
NC didn’t break its silence until the eighth inning. After a double by Oh Young-soo and a single by Seo Ho-cheol put runners on first and third with no outs, Park Se-hyuk and Son As-seop singled to score two runs. However, it was not enough to turn around the already tilted game.
Cuevas returns to his ‘ace form’ and throws a no-hitter
The star of the game was undoubtedly KT starter William Cuevas. Cuevas, who started Game 1 on March 30 and suffered a loss after giving up seven runs (four earned) on six hits in three innings, went into Game 4 with only three days’ rest.
Despite the lack of time to recover, he overwhelmed the NC bats with a fastball that topped out at 150 kilometers per hour and a mix of changeups and sliders. 무지개토토
A throwing error by Hwang Jae-gyun in the first inning allowed leadoff hitter Son Ah-seop to score, but Cuevas was unfazed and retired 17 consecutive batters to erase the Game 1 loss with six innings of one-hit ball.