Wanting to Keep the Momentum Going takes on the Winning
LG and KT, who showed off a great match in the first game, will face another inevitable blood battle.
The spearheads are William Cuevas and Choi Won-tae.
The second game of the 2023 KBO Korean Series (best of 7 games) will be held at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul on the 8th.
In this series, they went straight to the playoffs with 2nd place in the regular league (79 wins, 3 draws, 62 losses) and reverse swept the 4th place NC Dinos (75 wins, 2 draws, 67 losses) (advancing to the next series with consecutive wins from the risk of being swept).
It is being held as a match between KT Wiz, who beat , and first place LG Twins (86 wins, 2 draws, 56 losses). 먹튀검증사이트
The team that laughed in the first game held on the 7th was KT. Starting pitcher Ko Young-pyo pitched a comeback pitch in 6 innings, allowing 7 hits, 2 walks, 3 strikeouts, and 2 runs, 1 earned run, and Moon Sang-cheol, who suffered from a triple hit in the top of the 2nd inning, hit the final hit in the top of the 9th inning to lead the team to a 3-2 comeback victory.
With this, KT occupied an advantageous position in winning the Korean Series.
In past Korean series, the winning probability of the team that won Game 1 is 74.4% (29/39).
KT, wanting to continue its momentum, brings in Cuevas as the starting pitcher.
Cuevas, who has been playing for KT again since the middle of this season after forming a relationship with KT from the 2019 season to the 2022 season, recorded 45 wins, 22 losses, and an average ERA of 3.64 in 100 games (600.2 innings) in the KBO League until this year.
Cuevas’ presence shined this season as well. In 18 games (114.1 innings), he was the winning percentage leader with 12 wins, no losses, and an ERA of 2.60.
He also has a lot of experience in big games. In the 2021 season tiebreaker (1st place game) against the Samsung Lions, he contributed to KT’s first ever overall win with 7 innings of scoreless pitching, and in the 1st game of this year’s playoffs against NC, he performed poorly with 7 runs and 4 earned runs in 3 innings, but in the 4th game.
He rebounded by pitching 6 innings, allowing 1 hit, 3 strikeouts, and no runs.
However, Cuevas faced LG three times this season and performed poorly with an ERA of 11.45 (14 runs in 11 innings). Key players include Moon Bo-kyung (this year’s performance against Cuevas, 3 hits in 5 at-bats, 2 home runs, 3 RBIs), Oh Ji-hwan (2 hits in 6 at-bats, 2 RBIs), Moon Seong-ju (3 hits in 7 at-bats, 3 RBIs), and Kim Hyun-soo (4 hits in 7 at-bats, 1 RBI). It is considered an object of caution.
KT coach Lee Kang-cheol said after the first game, “(Go) Young-pyo (who was weak against LG in the regular league) went in differently today than we thought. Since I was hit in the beginning, I said I would get through this as soon as this passed, but I overcame the initial crisis well. Cuevas must be thinking a lot too. “I have to trust Cuevas anyway,” he said, giving strength to Cuevas.
The bullpen situation is not bad. Although he has faced repeated battles, he is forgetting his fatigue as he has won four consecutive postseason games this year.
Above all, Son Dong-hyun, who has allowed 9 scoreless innings in 6 postseason games this year, is boasting good condition, Park Young-hyun (regular league record, 3 wins, 3 losses, 32 holds, 4 saves, ERA 2.75) and Kim Jae-yoon (5 wins, 5 losses, 32 ERA). The winning team with a save average ERA of 2.60 is also alive and well.
The attack power is also decent. Although the batting cycle is gradually decreasing, the team is scoring the number of points necessary for victory every time.
However, the sluggishness of Park Byung-ho and Anthony Alford, the main batting lineup, is a problem that KT must solve.
The two players were silent in the first game as well, with no hits in four at-bats and no hits in three at-bats, respectively.
LG, who lost the first game and was faced with a red light on the challenge of winning the combined championship for the third time in 29 years since 1994 (1990, 1994), countered this by appointing ‘championship contractor’ Choi Won-tae as the starting pitcher.
Choi Won-tae, who was selected by the Heroes as the first pick in the 2015 draft, is a right-handed pitcher who posted 60 wins, 44 losses, and an average ERA of 4.39 in 167 games until last year.
Despite the loss of utility resources Lee Joo-hyung, right-handed pitcher Kim Dong-gyu, and a first-round pick in the 2024 rookie draft in the middle of the season, LG kept him in their arms.
The purpose was to reinforce the native starting lineup, which had been pointed out as a weakness.
However, Choi Won-tae did not show much after transferring to LG. His final performance this year was 9 wins, 7 losses, and an earned run average of 4.30 in 26 games (146.2 innings).
To break out of his slump, Choi Won-tae went down to the Futures (2nd team) league at the end of the regular season and had time to regroup.
At the time, LG coach Yeom Kyung-yeop said, “Choi Won-tae is preparing well.
He is especially preparing a lot for change-up and balance.
Choi Won-tae explained, “All pitches can get better only when the change-up is revived.”
If Choi Won-tae, who only allowed 2 runs (average ERA 6.00) in 3 innings in a clash with KT in this year’s regular league, pitches well, LG will be able to dream of a counterattack.
He also has plenty of room in the bullpen. In particular, in the first game, starting pitcher Casey Kelly (6.1 innings, 2 runs), followed by Lee Jeong-yong (0.2 innings, no runs) and Ham Deok-ju (1 inning, no runs) showed off their even more powerful performances, perhaps thanks to the long rest.
Closing pitcher Go Woo-seok (1 inning, 1 run) hit the winning hit against Moon Sang-cheol in the top of the 9th inning, but it was not a bad pitch, but rather one missed throw.
LG coach Yeom Kyung-yeop said, “I think I’m in good physical condition. Moon Sang-cheol hit a good throw.
The disappointing part is that the fastball pitch is not bad, but the breaking ball pitch made today’s game like this,” he said.
I think it will be okay.
I was very worried, but I believe he will do well in the next game,” he said, expressing his continued confidence in Go Woo-seok.
The batting lineup, which had many concerns about lack of practical sense, is also good.
Although he had a lot of left bases, he did manage 7 hits.
If Hong Chang-ki, who appeared as the number one hitter and had no hits in 5 at-bats, succeeds in rebounding, his destructive power could be further maximized.
Coach Yeom also said, “Overall, (the players’) sense of the game doesn’t seem to be bad.
I’m looking forward to the game tomorrow (the 8th),” he said, vowing revenge.