Behind a perfect game from Wes Benjamin and a solo three-hit performance from Byung-ho Park, KT Wiz defeated the SSG Landers in the seventh inning to stay in second place.
The third-place NC Dinos also won to stay within 0.5 games of KT.
KT won 3-0 against visiting SSG in the Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League 2023 at SSG Landers Field in Incheon on Wednesday.
Benjamin’s pitching was the highlight of the game. Benjamin retired 20 batters in a row, from Choi Ji-hoon in the first inning to Kim Kang-min in the second in the seventh.
Two batters later in the seventh, Choi’s perfect game was broken up by a double to left field, but Benjamin retired the next four batters in a row to close out the eight innings with a one-hit shutout. Benjamin picked up his 15th win of the season.
SSG starter Kim Kwang-hyun pitched six innings of one-run ball, but Benjamin’s performance was even better.
KT broke a 0-0 tie in the top of the sixth inning when Park Byung-ho singled to left field with runners on second and third.
With the bases loaded in the top of the ninth, Park Byung-ho took advantage of SSG rookie Lee Rin and launched a wedge shot over the right field wall.
With his 375th career home run, Byung-ho Park passed Lee Dae-ho (retired-374) for sole possession of third place on the KBO’s career home run list.
Kim Kwang-hyun became the fourth KBO pitcher to surpass 1,700 strikeouts (1,703) and moved past Sun Dong-yeol (1,698) into fourth place on the career strikeout list, but he couldn’t get any help from his team’s bats and suffered his seventh loss of the season.
KT finished the season with 10 wins, five losses and one draw against SSG.
NC extended its winning streak to three games with a 4-3 victory over the Lotte Giants on the road in Busan, thanks to a grand slam by Park Gun-woo.
NC had faced Lotte five times in a row from the 8th to this day, winning four and losing one.
After winning the last ‘Nakdong River Derby’ of the year, NC ended the season with a 9-7 series lead over Lotte.
After taking a 3-0 lead on the day, NC gave up three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to tie the game.
However, they regained the lead in the top of the eighth.
With one out, Park Min-woo singled to right to put runners on first and second, and Park Gun-woo took a forked ball from Lotte’s core bullpen, Koo Seung-min, and lined a single to left. It was the final hit of the game.
Seventh-ranked Lotte lost its third straight game, further diminishing its chances of making the postseason.
The Doosan Bears also extended their winning streak to three games with an 8-3 victory over the Hanwha Eagles at home in Jamsil.
Sixth-ranked Doosan closed the gap on fifth-ranked SSG to two games with the loss.
Meanwhile, No. 8 Hanwha, which had won six straight, saw its winning streak come to a halt.
Hanwha gave up the game-winning run on a wild pitch.
With the score tied 3-3 in the bottom of the fourth inning, Hanwha’s right-handed reliever Lee Min-woo threw a wild pitch at Kim Jae-ho that catcher Choi Jae-hoon couldn’t catch even if he reached over his head.
This allowed third baseman Park Kye-beom to reach home, and the other runners to reach third and second.
With runners on second and third, Kim Jae-ho hit a sacrifice fly to center field.
Doosan made it 6-3 in the bottom of the sixth when Jung Soo-bin, who hit a triple to right-center field, scored on a wild pitch by Hanwha right-hander Kim Kyu-yeon after Kim Jae-ho’s at-bat. It was a moment that sealed the victory.
The veteran Kim Jae-ho went 2-for-4 with a double and three RBIs on the day, including an RBI single to left field in the eighth inning.
The fourth-ranked KIA Tigers lost 9-10 to the ninth-ranked Samsung Lions in a home run battle in Daegu.
Samsung jumped out to a 9-4 lead in the first inning on Oh Jae-il’s ninth career grand slam and Kim Hyun-jun’s first career home run in the sixth.
Kia cut the deficit to 8-9 in the seventh inning with a two-run homer by Kim Do-young and a two-run homer by “pinch-hitter” Na Sung-beom, who had been saved, and tied the game at 9-9 with a solo shot by Oh Sun-woo in the eighth inning.
However, Samsung responded with a home run of their own.
In the bottom of the eighth, Lee Jae-hyun, who led off the inning, hit a solo shot over the left field wall that beat the Kia bullpen’s core, Im Ki-young.
With runners on first and second in the top of the eighth tied at 9-9, Samsung closer Oh Seung-hwan pitched 1⅔ scoreless innings to earn the save (4-5, 24 saves). 토토사이트