Ko Young-pyo said. “Winning? It’s not just my ability…”Please look at the funnier record.”
“The first team to win 10 games for 3 consecutive years,” Ko Young-pyo said. “Winning? It’s not just my ability…”Please look at the funnier record.”
KT WIZ ‘Native Ace’ pitcher Ko Young-pyo has won 10 games for the first time in the KT club for the first time in three consecutive years. Ko Young-pyo, who has led the team’s upward trend since June along with the quality start march for the last 10 consecutive games, is now heading for autumn.
Ko Young-pyo started against the Doosan Bears in Jamsil on August 6 and contributed to the team’s 3-1 victory with six hits, five strikeouts, and one walk in seven innings.
On this day, KT put the starting lineup leading to Kim Min-hyuk (right fielder), Lee Ho-yeon (2nd baseman), Hwang Jae-kyun (3rd baseman), Park Byung-ho (nominated hitter), Alford (left fielder), Kim Sang-soo (shortstop), Kim Joon-tae (catcher), Oh Yoon-seok (1st baseman), Bae Jung-dae (center fielder).
From the top of the first inning, KT started to take the lead. In the top of the first inning, KT scored the first run with Hwang Jae-kyun’s one-run heavy timely hit in the first and second bases with no outs made by leadoff hitter Kim Min-hyuk’s walk and Lee Ho-yeon’s right-handed hit. In the ensuing one-out, first and third base opportunities, third baseman Lee Ho-yeon stepped home and scored additional points when Alford grounded out in front of the pitcher.
Ko Young-pyo caught leadoff hitter Jung Soo-bin with a grounder to second base in the bottom of the first inning and hit a right-handed hit by follow-up hitter Kim Jae-ho. However, Ko Young-pyo got off to a fresh start by striking out Rojas and Kim Jae-hwan to right field fly ball and swing, respectively.
Ko Young-pyo showed off his crisis management skills in every inning. Ko Young-pyo struck out both Kang Seung-ho and Jang Seung-hyun in the bottom of the second inning with one out and runners on second base. Ko Young-pyo, who handled Kim Jae-ho and Rojas with one out and second base in the bottom of the third inning, blocked the crisis with a swing, a fly ball to first baseman, and a straight hit to second baseman in the bottom of the fifth inning.
The first run came in the sixth inning. Ko Young-pyo was hit by Rojas’ right-handed double after one out in the bottom of the sixth inning. With two outs and third base, Ko Young-pyo allowed his first run of the day with a wild pitch.
After one out in the top of the seventh inning, KT made valuable additional points with Bae Jung-dae’s double, opposing pitcher Bock, and Kim Min-hyuk’s sacrifice fly ball to the left field.
Ko Young-pyo took the mound in the bottom of the seventh inning and even aimed for quality start plus. Ko Young-pyo finished the inning by catching Jung Soo-bin with a fly ball to left field in the last crisis of two outs and runners on first and third bases. By achieving the 14th quality start plus of the season, he broke the personal record (13 times in the previous 2022 season).
Ko Young-pyo scored 75 strikes out of a total of 103 pitches. Ko Young-pyo beat Doosan’s batters perfectly by mixing changeups (44) and curves (15), focusing on his maximum speed of 140km/h fastball (43).
KT manager Lee Kang-chul said after the game, “Congratulations on Ko Young-pyo’s achievement of double-digit wins for the first three consecutive years of the club.” As an ace, he showed good pitching and crisis management skills against the opponent’s batters. Catcher Kim Joon-tae, who worked hard together, also helped the pitcher with a good ball combination,” he praised.
Ko Young-pyo, who met with reporters after the game, said, “The team’s first record of 10 wins for three consecutive years was not very conscious. I think that if you pitch well, victory will follow. Of course, I am always conscious of the quality start record. My job is to block a lot of innings with a small number. Even if I achieved 10 wins, I don’t think it was possible only with my ability. “There are more fun records than 10 wins, so I want fans to watch innings, walks, and strikeouts and be more recognized in this regard,” he said. 안전놀이터
KT has already reached fourth place in the league with the stabilization of the starting lineup centered on Ko Young-pyo.
Ko Young-pyo said, “At the beginning of the season, there were many injuries, so I couldn’t show KT’s performance.” Everyone has come this far because they are not conscious of the rankings and are focusing on each game. Now, if you look at our team’s starters, there is an image that they couldn’t do it if they didn’t play six innings. They say I made it like that, but I think they compete with each other and show good synergy. “Of course, my goal is number one,” he stressed.