Game Summary
The KT Wiz dominated the NC Dinos on Tuesday night, rolling to a 10-3 victory in front of a sparse mid-summer crowd. It was the kind of game that felt decided early, when the Wiz jumped all over Taylor in the opening inning and never looked back. KT’s offense was relentless, particularly their power hitters who made the most of their opportunities against a struggling Dinos pitching staff.
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KT Wiz | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 10 | 7 | 0 |
| NC Dinos | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 2 |
Won-Seok Oh earned the victory despite working only five innings, allowing just two hits and one run while issuing three walks. The Dinos, meanwhile, cycled through eight pitchers trying to stem the bleeding. It didn’t work. By the time the dust settled, KT had added another decisive win to their first-place ledger.
Pitching Performance
The Wiz’s pitching was steady if unspectacular. Oh gave up a hit in the first inning but otherwise kept NC’s hitters off balance with a mix of fastballs and off-speed stuff. He struck out four batters while walking three, leaving after five innings with a comfortable lead. The bullpen took over from there, with Gyu-Min Woo striking out one in two-thirds of an inning to begin the relief corps’ work.
Things got a bit dicey in the sixth inning when Dong-Hyun Son came in and immediately got into trouble, surrendering two hits and allowing two runs to score before getting yanked. But Sugimoto steadied the ship, working a clean inning with two walks and a strikeout. Kwon Gwon closed things out with two scoreless innings, giving up no hits.
For NC, it was a disaster. Taylor lasted just three and a third innings, charged with three runs on three hits. The Dinos burned through relievers like tissues, desperate to minimize the damage. Jae-Mun Hong took the loss after giving up two runs in the ninth, but really, the damage had been done long before that point.
| Pitcher | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KT Wiz | ||||||
| Oh Won-seok [W] | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Woo Gyu-min | 0 ⅔ | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Son Dong-hyun [H] | 0 ⅓ | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Sugimoto [H] | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| Joo Gwon | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| NC Dinos | ||||||
| Taylor [L] | 3 ⅓ | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 |
| Son Ju-hwan | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Im Jeong-ho | 0 ⅔ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Kim Tae-hoon | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Shin Young-woo | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Jeon Sa-min | 0 ⅓ | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Choi Yo-han | 0 ⅔ | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Hong Jae-mun | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
Offensive Highlights
Hilliard put on a show at the plate, going 2-for-3 with two home runs and three RBIs. His first shot came in the opening inning—a two-run blast that set the tone for everything that followed. He added his 27th home run of the season in the fourth inning off Taylor, a solo shot that further extended the lead. The American slugger was the story of the night, plain and simple.
Hyun-Soo Kim wasn’t far behind. The Wiz’s lineup stalwart went 2-for-3 with three RBIs, driving in runs at crucial moments. Jin-Hyeok Jang, inserted late in the game, made an immediate impact with a two-run homer in the ninth inning against Hong—his first of the season. Min-Hyeok Kim also chipped in an RBI despite not recording a plate appearance, a testament to how many baserunners KT was putting on throughout the night.
NC managed to score three runs, but it never felt threatening. Jae-Hwan Cheon went 2-for-4 with two doubles, and Kim Ju-Won drove in a run, but the Dinos couldn’t find any rhythm against Oh and the KT relievers. Woo-Sung Lee picked up an RBI as well, but it was all too little, too late.
| Batter | AB | H | R | HR | RBI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KT Wiz | |||||
| Choi Won-jun | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Kim Hyun-soo | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Hilliard | 3 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| Jang Jin-hyuk | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Kim Min-hyuk | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| NC Dinos | |||||
| Kim Juwon | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Kwon Hee-dong | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Lee Woo-sung | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Cheon Jae-hwan | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Key Play
The go-ahead run came in the first inning when Hilliard connected for a two-run home run with two outs and a runner in scoring position. It wasn’t a dramatic turning point so much as an early haymaker—KT landed it first and hardest, and NC never recovered. That blast essentially decided the game in the opening frame.
Also worth noting: the Dinos’ defense fell apart in the eighth inning when Jae-Min Jeon committed two errors, both of which allowed runners to advance. A wild pitch from Young-Woo Shin in the seventh compounded matters. These small breakdowns added up, and against a team like KT that capitalizes on mistakes, they proved costly.
Standings Impact
The victory keeps KT firmly planted in first place at 59-36 with two draws on the season. The Wiz’s lead appears comfortable at this point, and performances like this one suggest they’ll be hard to catch down the stretch. NC, by contrast, remains mired in seventh place at 43-50, now nine games under .500. The Dinos’ pitching staff was exposed on this night, and their hitters couldn’t compensate. It’s been a difficult stretch for Daegu, and games like this—lopsided defeats to a first-place team—don’t help matters.