Benjamin’s perfect game and Byung-ho Park’s RBIs helped KT maintain its second place after defeating SSG.
KT WIZ defeated the SSG Landers in the top of the seventh inning behind a perfect game from Wes Benjamin and a lone three-hit performance from Byung-ho Park 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 Baseball 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 game with a scoreless eighth inning. Benjamin picked up his 15th win of the season.
SSG starter Kim Kwang-hyun also pitched six innings of four-hit ball, but Benjamin’s performance was more impressive.
KT broke a 0-0 tie in the top of the sixth inning on Park Byung-ho’s RBI single 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) for 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 a record of 10 wins, 5 losses and 1 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 Park Gun-woo’s game-winning hit.
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 to two games on fifth-ranked SSG, which also lost on the day.
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, 먹튀검증 Samsung closer Oh Seung-hwan pitched 1⅔ scoreless innings to earn the save (4-5, 24 saves).