adminKT swept a three-game series against Hanwha to stay in second place.
KT Wiz, led by manager Lee Kang-cheol, pounded out five hits, including a home run, in a 3-0 victory over the Hanwha Eagles in the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League at Hanwha Life Eagles Park in Daejeon on Tuesday.
KT, which has won 10 consecutive games, starting with a three-game series against the Kiwoom Heroes on July 11 and ending with a three-game series against Hanwha, cut its lead over the first-place LG Twins, who lost 1-2 to the SSG Landers on the same day, to seven games (58-2-46).
KT broke open a 0-0 tie in the top of the seventh inning with a leadoff solo home run by Moon Sang-chul and a timely double by Choi Jae-dae to drive in the winning run. On the mound, it was the starting pitching that proved decisive, as Park Young-hyun, who closed out the eighth, earned his 25th hold and Kim Jae-yoon, who secured the ninth, recorded his 22nd save with seven innings of three-hit, 11-strikeout ball. William Cuevas, the “returning big-game pitcher,” has won seven of his 11 games since returning to KT.
Foreign pitchers underperformed for the fourth year in a row
The KBO allows new teams to have four foreign players in their first two years in the league. The NC Dinos, who joined the first team in 2013, were able to reach fall baseball in their second year with Charlie Shreck, Eric Hacker, and Ted Weber, who combined for 29 wins in 2014. However, KT, the 10th club to join the first team since 2015, had the benefit of having four foreign players in 2015 and 2016, but failed to get out of last place for three consecutive years until 2017.
KT’s first three foreign pitchers were right-handers Phil Irwin and Chris Oxspring, and left-hander Andy Sisco. However, only Oxspring, who went 12-10 with a 4.48 ERA, completed the season, while Irwin went 1-7 with an 8.68 ERA and Sisko went 6-2 with a 6.23 ERA. KT brought in Justin Jermano, one of the mainstays of the 2011 Samsung Lions championship, as a replacement for Irwin midseason, but Jermano also failed to live up to expectations, going 3-6, 4.93. 메이저사이트
Kt replaced all of its foreign pitchers with Travis Banwart, who played for the SK Wyverns in 2016, and newcomers Johan Pino and Sugar Ray Marimon. However, Banwart, who finished the season with a 6-13 record and 5.95 ERA, fell far short of expectations, while Marimon (6-4, 5.23) and Pino (2-3, 7.15) were dropped. Marimon’s replacement, Josh Lowey, also struggled with a 3-6, 6.30 record, but former Heroes pitcher Ryan Peabody was re-signed after posting a 4.16 ERA in 12 games for KT.
In 2017, KT, which entered its third year in the first team, lost the benefit of having four foreign players in the rookie league and re-signed Peaband along with new face Don Roach to form a foreign one-two punch. Despite going just 8-10 due to KT’s weak offense, Peabody made 20 quality starts in 26 games, leading the league in that category with a 3.04 ERA. On the other hand, in 165 innings pitched