KT is set to host the NC Dinos for Game 5 of the best-of-five playoffs (PO-5) at Katie Weeds Park in Suwon on Friday. The team lost Games 1-2 at home, falling behind the momentum of NC, which hasn’t lost a game since the wild card deciding game. However, they took Games 3 and 4 away from home (Changwon NC Park) and showed their strength to finish second in the regular season. In the 17 previous best-of-five POs, there have only been two instances where the team that lost the first two games won three straight to advance to the KS. KT aims to be the third.토토사이트
The biggest takeaway from the two straight away wins is the bats’ return to form. The first game was a one-run game 19 days after the regular season finale, and the bats froze as the opposing pitcher was Eric Peddy, who had 20 wins. They ended up losing 5-9. In the second game, KT batters were held to one hit in six and one-third innings against Korean pitcher Shin Min-hyuk and lost 2-3.
The KT bats rebounded in game three, scoring two runs on five hits in six innings against NC foreign pitcher Tanner Tully. They took the lead for the first time in this PO in the bottom of the inning when Choi Sung-ho singled up the middle and Choi Jae-dae hit a two-run homer to left field, and they extended the lead in the seventh when Moon Sang-chul hit a leadoff solo homer off set-up man Kim Young-gyu. 3-0 Shinseung.
Moon Sang-cheol and Choi Jae-dae had homered off Pedi in the third inning of Game 1 and Lee Yong-chan in the ninth, respectively. They were the best hitting KT batters so far.
The encouraging thing is the fourth game. Even the hitters who had been slugging were able to get on base. Hwang Jae-gyun, who had only two hits, and Anthony Alford, who had no hits, both had multi-hit games with one home run apiece. Park Byung-ho and Jang Jang-woo, the fourth and fifth hitters, also completed multi-hit games with one RBI.
With leadoff man Kim Sang-soo, who has been consistently hitting one hit a game, and Hwang Jae-gyun and Alford, who have been slumping, gaining a foothold in the batting order, the chances of scoring runs in front of the center field lineup have increased. In addition, Moon Sang-cheol, who has been filling the void left by the injury to KT’s top hitter Kang Baek-ho, will bat sixth in this PO.
The KT batting lineup will face Shin Min-hyuk again in Game 5 on Friday. Originally, ace Pedi was expected to take the mound, but it was reported that Pedi, who was hit in the forearm by a pitch in the final inning of the regular season, is not fully healthy.
The KT offense managed just 10 runs against Shin in 24 and one-third innings in the regular season and 6 and one-third innings in the postseason. His average is 2.94 runs per nine innings. Manager Lee Kang-cheol was also concerned about the weakness against Shin Min-hyuk. However, unlike Game 2, he will face Shin with his normal batting form.