The KT Wiz bats responded to William Cuevas’ strong start on three days’ rest with a blistering performance.
KT Wiz defeated the NC Dinos 11-2 in the visiting team’s fourth game of the Baseball World Series 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO Postseason Playoffs (PO) at Changwon NC Park on Wednesday.
KT, which was on the brink after dropping the first and second games at home, won the third and fourth games in Changwon to take the best-of-five series to the fifth game.
Game 5 will be held at 2 p.m. on April 5 at Katie Wise Park in Suwon.
Cuevas was the star of the show.
After taking the loss in Game 1 of the PO on October 30, throwing 75 pitches and giving up seven runs (four earned) on six hits (one home run) in three innings, Cuevas went into Game 4 of the PO with only three days of rest.
Despite not having enough time to recover physically, Cuevas was able to redeem himself with a mix of four-seam fastballs (fastballs), two-seam fastballs, and cut fastballs that topped out at 150 mph.
Cuevas bounced back with six innings of one-hit ball, retiring 17 consecutive batters after the first batter, Son As-seob, reached on a throwing error by KT third baseman Hwang Jae-gyun.
The KT bats pounded out 14 hits, including three home runs, to score 11 runs.
In the first inning, leadoff hitter Kim Sang-soo stole second base on a passed ball and advanced to third on a throwing error by NC catcher Kim Hyung-jun.
Anthony Alford followed with a walk, and with runners on first and third, Park Byung-ho hit a single over the right field fence.
With runners on first and third again, Jang Sung-woo hit a short fly ball to center field, and Alford drove home the go-ahead run.
With runners on second and third in the top of the second after Song Myung-ki (3 runs on 4 hits in 1 1/3 innings), NC coach Kang Myung-hyun brought in Lee Jae-hak.
However, Lee gave up a run on a wild pitch.
Kim Sang-soo walked to load the bases, and Hwang Jae-gyun followed with a two-run double to left field.
In the third inning, KT had runners on second and third with singles by Jang Jang-woo and Oh Yoon-seok.
In Oh’s case, what should have been runners at first and third became runners at second and third when NC center fielder Jason Martin’s throw to the infield went over first baseman Oh Young-soo’s head in the second base cover.
After capitalizing on a sloppy play by the opponent that was not recorded as an error, KT scored two more runs on a single up the middle by Choi Jae-dae.
In the fourth inning, Hwang Jae-gyun, who appeared as the leadoff hitter, hit a solo arch over the left field wall.
It made up for a throwing error in the first inning.
Two batters later, Jang Jang-woo hit a solo shot to center field, giving KT two runs in the first through fourth innings to make it 8-0.
NC only broke the no-hit streak in the bottom of the sixth inning when Son Ah-seop singled to left.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, when KT extended its lead to 11-0 with a solo shot by Alford, Oh Young-soo doubled to left field and Seo Ho-cheol singled to left to put runners on first and third, and Park Se-hyuk broke the silence with a single to left. Son As-seop added a run with a single to left.
However, the pendulum had already swung in KT’s favor.
From the fourth inning of the second game to the seventh inning of the fourth game, KT continued its streak of 22 consecutive scoreless innings, setting a new PO record for consecutive scoreless innings. 슬롯