The KT Wiz became the first fourth seed ever to advance out of the Wild-Card round with a 1-0 win over the Doosan Bears on Thursday. The Wiz pitching staff allowed just ten hits and no runs over the two-game Wild-Card series.
Wes Benjamin followed William Cuevas’ scoreless outing on Wednesday with a masterpiece of his own. The 31-year-old left-hander held the Bears bat to just three hits over seven scoreless innings, striking out six and walking none. ‘
WC2 벤자민 7이닝 무사사구 6K 무실점 QS+
포효맛집 ㅁㅊ pic.twitter.com/fbRAUhc4L8— ???? (@wizyagu) October 3, 2024
Bears starter Choi Seung-yung matched Benjamin pitch-for-pitch over the first five innings, but the Wiz would rally once reliever Lee Byeong-heon entered in the sixth. Mel Rojas Jr. led off the inning with a double, and Kang Baek-ho would drive him with a single to left.
Benjamin would depart after the seventh inning, and Ko Young-pyo and Park Yeong-hyun would finish off Doosan with two perfect innings of relief. Remarkably, a Bears offense that averaged nearly five-and-a-half runs per game in the regular season failed to push across a single tally in eighteen postseason innings.
The Wiz will now take on the three-seeded LG Twins in a best-of-five first-round series. The well-rounded Twins will pose a tough threat to the red-hot Wiz, as they finished second in the league in both runs scored and ERA. The Twins will send 13-game winner Dietrich Enns to the mound for the opener, while the Wiz will counter with Ko Young-pyo, who posted a 6-8 mark with a 4.95 ERA this season. First pitch from Jasmil Stadium will be at 2 p.m. local time.
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