Game Summary
The Kiwoom Heroes knocked off the league-leading KT Wiz 10-5 on Friday night at Gocheok Sky Dome, handing the first-place club only their third loss in regulation play this season. It was a wire-to-wire victory that saw Kiwoom’s bats come alive early and often against KT’s struggling pitching staff. Ha Yeong-min, the Heroes’ starting pitcher, was solid if unspectacular, allowing four runs over six innings while striking out four. The Wiz got on the board quickly but could never quite catch up once Kiwoom jumped ahead in the bottom of the first.
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kiwoom Heroes | 3 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 12 | 1 |
| KT Wiz | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 13 | 1 |
Park Chan-hyuk’s three-run bomb in the opening inning set the tone for what would become a lopsided affair. KT managed to claw back into the game momentarily but the Heroes’ deeper lineup proved too much to handle. By the time the dust settled, Kiwoom had collected 11 hits and turned defensive miscues by the Wiz into run-scoring opportunities.
Pitching Performance
Ha Yeong-min got the win, his fifth of the season, working through six innings and allowing seven hits. He walked two batters but kept KT’s more dangerous hitters off balance for the most part. The real problem for the Wiz came from starter Oh Won-seok, who lasted just two and two-thirds innings. Oh gave up six hits and three walks while recording only three strikeouts, surrendering eight runs in the process. That meltdown in the early going put KT in a hole they simply couldn’t escape.
Kiwoom’s relief corps was nearly flawless. Park Ji-sung, Kim Sun-gi, and the combination of Park Jin-hyung and Yu To pieced together three and two-thirds scoreless innings with just three hits allowed. For KT, the bullpen worked harder than it should have needed to. Bae Je-sung struck out two in an inning and a third of work. The parade of relievers—Sang-dong Lee, Son Dong-hyun, Sugimoto, and Jung-hyun Lee—combined to yield just one more run, but the damage had already been done.
| Pitcher | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kiwoom Heroes | ||||||
| Ha Young-min [W] | 6 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Park Ji-sung | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kim Sun-gi | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Park Jin-hyung | 0 ⅓ | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Yuto | 0 ⅔ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| KT Wiz | ||||||
| O Won-seok [L] | 2 ⅔ | 6 | 8 | 8 | 3 | 3 |
| Bae Je-sung | 1 ⅓ | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Sang-dong Lee | 1 ⅓ | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Son Dong-hyun | 1 ⅔ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Sugimoto | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Lee Jung-hyun | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Offensive Highlights
Park Chan-hyuk was the star of the show offensively, finishing 2-for-4 with a three-run homer and three RBIs total. His blast came with the bases loaded in the first inning—well, runners on first and second—and put the Heroes up 3-0 before most fans had settled into their seats. An Chi-hong also contributed a long ball, his ninth of the year, a solo shot in the eighth that provided some insurance runs late.
Beyond the homers, Kiwoom got solid contributions from Choo Jae-hyun, who went 2-for-5, and Kim Geon-hee, who added two RBIs despite managing just one hit in five at-bats. Kwon Hyuk-bin chipped in a run-scoring knock as well. For the Wiz, Choe Won-jun led the way with three hits in five trips to the plate, while Kim Hyun-soo added two. The problem was that those hits came too spread out to mount any real offensive threat. An Hyun-min drove in two runs, but isolated success couldn’t overcome the early deficit.
| Batter | AB | H | R | HR | RBI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kiwoom Heroes | |||||
| An Chi-hong | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Park Chan-hyuk | 4 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Chu Jae-hyun | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kim Gun-hee | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Kwon Hyuk-bin | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Im Byung-wook | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| KT Wiz | |||||
| Choi Won-jun | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Kim Hyun-soo | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Ahn Hyun-min | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Kim Sang-su | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jang Jin-hyuk | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Key Play
Park Chan-hyuk’s three-run home run in the bottom of the first inning was the pivotal moment. With runners on the corners and one out, Park turned on a fastball from Oh Won-seok and drove it over the left-field wall. The blast gave Kiwoom an immediate 3-0 advantage and seemed to shake the confidence of the Wiz pitcher. From that point forward, KT was chasing rather than leading, and that proved to be a losing proposition against a suddenly hot Heroes team.
Standings Impact
The loss prevents KT from clinching the regular season title tonight, though their cushion remains substantial. The Wiz stay atop the standings with a 63-3-41 record, still a commanding 23 games ahead of the field. Kiwoom, meanwhile, remains in tenth place at 40-2-72, but Friday’s victory showed they can compete with the best even while occupying the basement of the standings. The Heroes are still fighting for relevance in what has been a difficult season, and wins like this one offer some small measure of encouragement.