[MyDaily = Gocheok — Reporter Kim Jin-seong] “We just need to hang on. He won’t make it past the sixth or seventh inning.”
KT Wiz manager Lee Kang-cheol said that on the 8th ahead of the Gocheok matchup with the Kiwoom Heroes. Even though Kiwoom started ace Ahn Woo-jin, Lee expected Ahn—working through a rehab assignment—not to go deep. He figured that if the game followed that pattern, KT could strike in the middle innings and come away with a win.
The game unfolded exactly as Lee anticipated. Ahn threw four scoreless innings with eight strikeouts, but he didn’t look sharp. His four-seam touched 157 km/h (about 97.6 mph), yet he leaned more on his slider and allowed baserunners every inning. After 76 pitches through four frames, Ahn turned the game over to Park Jin-hyung to start the fifth.
On the other side, KT’s homegrown lefty-turned-ace Oh Won-seok kept Kiwoom off the board through six innings. KT pushed three runs across in the sixth and held the lead the rest of the way. The win came down to a mix of good fortune for KT and a bit of misfortune for Kiwoom.
With the game scoreless in the bottom of the fifth, leadoff hitter Park Joo-hong came up with two outs and nobody on. Oh’s first pitch, a 131 km/h (about 81.4 mph) changeup, caught the inner half and Park pulled it fiercely. The ball appeared to strike the right foul pole after a 99 m carry, and umpires initially ruled it a homer.
KT challenged. The review was supposed to determine whether the ball hit the upper or lower section of the yellow safety pole mounted on the wall—upper = home run, lower = extra-base hit. The replay brought a twist: slow motion showed the ball did not hit the pole. It struck the wall just to the right of the pole and fell back. The call was overturned to a foul—a matter of inches.
Kiwoom’s would-be go-ahead run was erased, and Park returned to the box clearly deflated. He eventually struck out swinging, and Kiwoom left the inning scoreless. In the top of the sixth, with one out and runners on first and second, Yoo Jun-gyu ripped a deep two-run triple to right—his first career triple—to give KT the lead.
Kiwoom then made a questionable decision on defense. In the same inning, with one out and a runner at third, second baseman Ahn Chi-hong—playing in on the play—cleanly fielded Lee Jung-hoon’s grounder but threw to first instead of testing the plate. Given he had charged in, a bold throw home could’ve been warranted. The conservative play left KT with one run from the sequence.
It turned out to be Yoo’s night. In the bottom of the sixth he made a diving defensive gem to rob Ahn Chi-hong, and in the eighth he added an RBI single. Yoo finished with three hits and three RBIs—his first three-hit, three-RBI game. Ultimately, KT weathered the challenge from Kiwoom’s ace and sealed the win thanks to Yoo’s all-around performance.
Of course, KT’s ability to hang on started with Oh Won-seok. The starter went seven innings, allowed four hits, struck out five, walked one and finished with a zero on the board, picking up his fourth win of the season.
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