KT Wiz won 9-3 against NC Dinos in the 2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League match held at Changwon NC Park on the 6th, pushing Doosan out and rising to 4th place in the league.
The game, delayed an hour due to heavy rain, began with KT taking the lead in the top of the first inning. KT’s Kim Min-hyeok, who has been showing his stellar performance in the second half, singled to the plate, and cleanup hitter Moon Sang-cheol, on the fifth pitch of a duel with NC Dinos starting pitcher Lee Jun-ho, hit a 115-meter, two-run homer over left field, his 17th home run of the season.
In the top of the 2nd inning, the next offensive inning, KT also got two consecutive 4-pitch walks after Kim Sang-soo got on base, creating a bases-loaded opportunity with no outs, and succeeded in making the score 6-0 with a sacrifice fly by Rojas and RBI hits by Kim Min-hyeok and Kang Baek-ho.
Go Young-pyo, who started as the starting pitcher for KT on this day, allowed a double to NC’s No. 4 hitter Kwon Hee-dong in the bottom of the second inning, then gave up a run on a timely hit to Jae-hwan Cheon, and another run each in the bottom of the third and fourth innings in critical situations, recording three earned runs. However, he shut out the rest of the game, allowing only one hit in the bottom of the fifth and sixth innings, and achieved a quality start.
In the top of the 5th inning, with KT trailing 6-3, a scoring opportunity arose due to a shortstop’s throwing error, and Shim Woo-jun and Rojas hit RBI singles to widen the score gap to 9-3, a 6-point lead, breaking NC’s will to pursue.
After that, the KT bullpen (Kim Min-Kim Min-soo-Son Dong-hyun-Park Young-hyun), who followed Go Young-pyo on the mound, closed out the game by shutting out the remaining three scoreless innings, and KT Wiz achieved a winning percentage of .500 with 64 wins, 2 draws, and 64 losses for the season, pulling down Doosan, who was on a five-game losing streak, and rising to 4th place.
KT Wiz will face Doosan Bears at their home stadium, Suwon-KT Wiz Park, on Saturday the 7th to compete for a spot in the postseason.
