baseball-club
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| ▲ William Cuevas of the KT Wiz pitches against the Samsung Lions in the bottom of the first inning of a Korea Baseball Organization tiebreaker game at Daegu Samsung Lions Park in Daegu, some 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul, on Oct. 31, 2021. (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ Kang Baek-ho of the KT Wiz hits an RBI single against the Samsung Lions in the top of the sixth inning of a Korea Baseball Organization tiebreaker game at Daegu Samsung Lions Park in Daegu, some 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul, on Oct. 31, 2021. (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ KT Wiz players greet their teammates in front of their dugout after the end of the eighth inning during a Korea Baseball Organization tiebreaker game against the Samsung Lions at Daegu Samsung Lions Park in Daegu, some 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul, on Oct. 31, 2021. (Yonhap) |
baseball-club
KT Wiz win KBO tiebreaker game to reach 1st Korean Series
By Yoo Jee-ho
SEOUL, Oct. 31 (Yonhap) -- The KT Wiz will play for the South Korean baseball championship for the first time.
The Wiz shut out the Samsung Lions 1-0 in a tiebreaker game on Sunday to capture the regular season crown in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO). As the pennant winners, the Wiz earned a bye to the best-of-seven Korean Series, which begins on Nov. 14.
Starter William Cuevas tossed seven shutout innings on two days' rest, and Kang Baek-ho's RBI single in the sixth was the only offense of the tightly contested game at Daegu Samsung Lions Park in Daegu, some 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul.
The Wiz and the Lions concluded their 144-game regular season on Saturday knotted at 76-59-9 (wins-losses-ties), setting up the first tiebreaker game in the KBO since 1986.
The Wiz, which joined the KBO as an expansion team in 2015, will now try to win their first championship.
The Lions earned the bye to the second round of the postseason. They're back in the playoffs for the first time since 2015.
The two starting pitchers, Cuevas for the Wiz and Won Tae-in for the Lions, matched each other pitch for pitch in a memorable duel. Then in the top of the sixth, Kang broke a string of zeroes for the Wiz with a two-out RBI single off Won, who'd no-hit the Wiz through the first five innings.
The rally began with a throwing error by Samsung shortstop Oh Sun-jin, who fielded a tricky grounder by Shim Woo-jun but yanked his throw to first.
That allowed Shim to reach second, and he later moved to third on a groundout. Two batters later, Kang cashed him in with a single to left field.
The Lions stranded two runners in scoring position in the bottom seventh. Koo Ja-wook drew a leadoff walk from Cuevas and advanced to third when right fielder Jared Hoying dropped a fly ball off the bat of Oh Jae-il.
Oh was thrown out at second on the play, but then Jose Pirela worked a six-pitch walk to represent the go-ahead run.
Cuevas dug deep. He got Kang Min-ho to pop out to second. After Lee Won-suk got behind 0-2 at the plate, Pirela stole second to move himself into scoring position. At 2-2 count, Cuevas struck out Lee on a cutter to keep the Lions off the board.
The Wiz escaped a mini-rally by the Lions in the bottom eighth. Kim Ji-chan hit a one-out single off reliever Park Si-young -- only the second base hit by the Lions in the game -- and advanced to second on a groundout by Oh Sun-jin.
Closer Kim Jae-yoon, who'd replaced Park at a 2-0 count on Oh, then retired Park Hae-min on a groundout to keep the Wiz in front.
Kim returned for the ninth and retired the final three batters in order to lock down the win.
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