In the most thrilling game of the KBO postseason thus far, an 11th-inning single by Sim Woo-jun scored Kim Sang-su with the winning run to secure a 6-5 win for the KT Wiz. The extra-inning victory extended the Wiz’s season at least one more day and set up a winner-take-all Game Five against the LG Twins on Friday.
Though the Wiz were facing elimination, they had one huge point in their favor in the form of Game Four starter William Cuevas. The veteran right-hander had established himself as one of his era’s best postseason performers and helped deliver the Wiz to the first round with six shutout innings against the Doosan Bears in the wild-card series. On this night, however, Cuevas would not have his best stuff, and the Twins took advantage early with back-to-back home runs by Kim Hyun-soo and Park Hae-min.
As they had all season, the Wiz would bounce back, cutting the deficit to one on a Moon Sang-chul solo home run before taking the lead in the fourth on a Sim Woo-Jun sacrifice fly. The Wiz would then extend their lead to two on a Kang Baek-ho homer to lead off the bottom of the fifth.
That 5-3 lead would stand to the eighth inning, as reliever Ko Young-pyo followed Cuevas with three scoreless innings of relief. With one out and a man on, the Wiz decided to pull Ko in favor of 23-year-old right-hander So Hyeon-jun, who appeared just six times in the regular season. Oh Ji-whan would greet him with a single to right field before a passed ball cut the score to 5-4. Kim Hyun-soo would then deliver the big hit, a seeing-eye single to right field that brought home the tying run.
김현수 동점 적시타!!!!!!!!!
동점 주자 오지환 동점을 향해 날아들어옵니다.. 하고 세레머니 ㅈㄴ 느좋 🤤🤤🤤🤤 pic.twitter.com/fsZUt2mDwu— 뇸 (@lgtwinsniwt) October 9, 2024
The score would remain knotted at five for four agonizing innings, as the Wiz were unable to get the big hit. They stranded five combined runners in the eighth, ninth, and tenth innings, but reliever Park Young-hyun would keep them in the game by retiring ten straight Twins hitters. It looked like the Wiz would blow yet another opportunity in the bottom of the 11th when Cheon Seong-ho struck out with the bases loaded and one out, leaving the inning in Sim’s hands.
Though he already had two hits on the day, the defensive-first Sim was not exactly who the Wiz envisioned at the plate in a season-saving scenario. The number nine hitter batted just .266 during the regular season with just three home runs and 28 RBI. Yet all those numbers would be thrown out the window when Sim’s chopper glanced off the glove of pitcher Jung Woo-young, bringing home Kim Sang-su with the game-winning run.
ㅅㅂ 심우준 끝내기로 준플레이오프 4차전 케이티 위즈 승리 🎉🎉 2:2 마지막 5차전으로 간다 !!!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/Iwm8QPNI5u
— 🍒 (@wizyagu) October 9, 2024
The back-and-forth series between the two KBO finalists from 2023 will now extend to a fifth game, shifting back to the Twins’ Jasmil Stadium for the winner-take-all contest. The first pitch of Game 5 will be Friday at 5:30 a.m. EST.
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WBN KBO: https://worldbaseball.com/league/south-korea/
