KT pulled off a dramatic come-from-behind victory in the bottom of the ninth inning against the top-ranked LG Twins.
KT won 4-3 at home against LG in the Shinhan Bank SOL KBO Baseball League 2023 at Katie Weeds Park in Suwon on Saturday.
The win snapped a four-game losing streak for the league’s second-place team and closed the gap on LG back to 5.5 games.
Trailing 0-3 in the bottom of the ninth inning, KT took advantage of LG closer Go Woo-seok to turn the game around.
Pinch-hitter Moon Sang-chul led off and took advantage of a wild pitch to hit a two-run double to left-center field.
The next batter, Jang Sung-woo, singled to the left side of the infield to bring home Moon.
Go Woo-seok struck out pinch-hitter Ahn Chi-young, but gave up a walk to Park Kyung-soo to end the threat.
KT cut the deficit to one run with a single up the middle by Bae Ji-dae, and Kim Sang-soo drew a walk to load the bases.
Kim Min-hyuk was retired on a grounder, but Hwang Jae-gyun ended the game with a double over the head of third baseman Moon Bo-kyung.
Hwang’s pitch bounced up big, and the ball grazed the tip of Moon’s glove before sailing into left field.
It was Hwang’s ninth career walk-off hit.
The bottom half of the game was a masterpiece of pitching.
KT’s Wes Benjamin pitched like the nemesis he is, and Kelly continued his recent hot streak.
Prior to this game, Benjamin was 4-0 with a 0.71 ERA in four starts against LG this year. Kelly has now thrown three consecutive quality starts (six innings or less).
The two traded big innings until the bottom of the fifth inning, which took less than 80 minutes to complete.
Benjamin allowed one run (one earned) on five hits and one walk with four strikeouts in seven innings, while Kelly pitched seven innings of scoreless relief, allowing two hits and two walks with eight strikeouts.
It was LG that broke the 0-0 tie.
LG put runners on first and third with back-to-back singles to left by Shin Min-jae and Kim Hyun-soo in the sixth inning, then traded runs for an out on a huge foul fly by Austin Dean.
In the eighth inning, Shin Min-jae and Kim Hyun-soo added another run.
Shin Min-jae drew a walk against reliever Son Dong-hyun and then quickly stole second base to shake up the KT battery. At that point, KT catcher Jang Sung-woo made a bad throw to second base, putting runners on first and third.
Kim Hyun-soo took advantage of the opportunity and singled to right field to bring home Shin Min-jae.
Riding the momentum, LG added one more run in the ninth inning on a hit by pitch, a single to left by Park Hae-min, and a timely double by Hong Chang-ki.
However, KT had the last laugh as Go Woo-seok collapsed in the bottom of the ninth. 토토사이트
