“I wasn’t happy about the first inning,” “The curse of the first and third basemen…” The Wizard Corps, the first to strike first, came back from the dead.
“Losing the lead was the cause of our second straight loss.”
Game 3 of the playoffs between the NC Dinos and KT Wiz at Changwon NC Park on April 2. KT coach Lee Kang-cheol was in deep water. They dropped both games 1 and 2 at home to NC. The first game was lost to the overpowering pitching of opposing ace Eric Peddy. In the second game, they failed to capitalize on starter Shin Min-hyuk. They had a chance to come back in the ninth inning with a 2-3 lead, but couldn’t tie the game and were eliminated in a shocking result.
Looking ahead to Game 3, Lee said, “In both games, we gave up leads, so the players became urgent. We should have taken control of the game,” Lee lamented, adding, “Given their bullpen, we could have chances late in the game. If we get a good start, we have a chance to win the game.”
In the end, it was all about scoring first. If NC scored first in Game 3, 카지노사이트 it would put a lot of pressure on the players. An early goal was essential to turn the tide.
Someone answered the call, and it was the No. 8 batting order. In the top of the second inning, with the score 0-0, he led off with a single against Tanner. With runners on first and second and one out, he lined a low slider, Tanner’s main weapon, perfectly.
KT almost had a runners on first and third in Game 3
In the top of the first inning of the third game, Kim Sang-soo and Hwang Jae-gyun hit back-to-back singles to put runners on first and third with no outs. But once again, there was a shocker: the trusted Alford and Park Byung-ho struck out in succession. Jang Sung-woo was also retired on an infield fly. The mood in the KT dugout took a turn for the worse.
It was a home run by the batting order that instantly revitalized the atmosphere that was about to be deflated. It was a ‘billion-dollar’ shot. In a postgame interview, Bae said, “Tanner is quick when he has runners on base. I told him to get ready quickly from the first pitch, but he was a little late. I felt like he was going to throw a changeup in the second pitch, so I didn’t aim for it, but I was ready for it and it worked out well.”
With the support of the home run, starter Ko Young-pyo was able to relax and continue to pitch flawlessly.
In the first game, he hit a walk-off home run against NC closer Lee Yong-chan in the ninth inning. Although the home run didn’t change the outcome of the game because it came with a 1-9 deficit, it was significant because it showed KT’s determination not to give up.
The outfield is the offensive and defensive core of KT Baseball
The center field position provides a wide defensive range, allowing the corner outfielders to be aggressive.
The monkey has fallen from the tree, too. In Game 1, he followed Kwon Hee-dong’s pitch well but gave up a timely double that hit off his glove.
“It was a mistake on my part that absolutely shouldn’t have happened. I wasn’t happy at all after hitting a home run in the first inning. Because the team lost…. We had to play the next game, so I focused on erasing the memory of the mistake. I was honestly very nervous in the first game,” he reflected.
After hitting 13 home runs in the 2020 season and 12 in the 2021 season, he was already a prolific hitter. But his home run totals dropped to six and two last season and this season, respectively, and he was batting eighth this fall. This was more for operational baseball than power.
This fall, however, he brought back the power tools he had put aside, and the platoon became the “dreaded No. 8 hitter” of fall baseball. The Cliffhangers came back from the dead with a 3-0 win.