The Kia Tigers beat the KT Wiz on Chan-ho Park’s game-winning hit with two outs in the top of the ninth inning, reviving their postseason hopes.
KIA defeated KT 7-3 on Thursday at Katie Wiz Park in Suwon, South Korea, in a visiting game of the Baseball World Series 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League.
Park Chan-ho was the key to the victory.
With the score tied at 3-3 in the bottom of the eighth inning, when Jang Sung-woo’s fly ball hit third baseman Kim Do-young’s glove and deflected, the KIA shortstop calmly caught the ball and accurately threw to first base to end the inning.
With the bases loaded in the top of the ninth, Park took advantage of a six-pitch forkball from KT closer Kim Jae-yoon to hit a two-run double to right field.
Park Chan-ho ran to first base with his fists pumping, and after reaching first base, he waved his arms, drawing cheers from the KIA fans.
With runners on first and third, KIA scored two more runs on Na Sung-bum’s triple to center field to put the game out of reach.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, with a 1-0 lead, KT’s Oh Yoon-seok hit a two-run home run.
It was Park Chan-ho who changed the game.
In the top of the sixth inning, Park hit a bouncing grounder near second base and sprinted for an infield single.
In the ninth inning, KT second baseman Lee Ho-yeon’s throw to first base went into the dugout and Park Chan-ho advanced to second base.
With two outs, Na Sung-bum hit a single to right field to tie the game at 2-2.
After KT regained the lead in the bottom of the sixth on a single by pinch-hitter Jang Sung-woo, Park Chan-ho walked and stole second base in the top of the eighth to put himself in scoring position and came home on Choi Hyung-woo’s single to right-center.
In his final at-bat in the ninth inning, Park came through with a pinch-hit single to secure the win.
Park finished the day with four hits, two doubles, two RBIs, and three runs scored.
Sixth-place KIA maintained its 1.5-game lead over fifth-place Doosan.
The LG Twins extended their lead in the standings with a 3-1 win over the Lotte Giants at home in Jamsil.
To LG’s delight, foreign starter Casey Kelly, who has struggled this season, pitched a no-hitter (six innings, three hits) for the first time this season.
Kelly had previously tossed a no-hitter (eight innings, seven hits, one run) against Lotte on June 23, but this was the first time this season that she hadn’t allowed an earned run.
The LG bats came alive in the fourth inning.
One out later, Kim Hyun-soo led off with a bunt single in front of the pitcher, and Austin Dean followed with a double to left field to lead off the inning.
Oh Ji-hwan struck out, but Moon Bo-kyung was hit by a pitch and Park Dong-won walked to load the bases, and Moon Sung-joo followed with an RBI single up the middle to make it 3-0.
Lotte got one run back in the top of the seventh, after Kelly left the game, with back-to-back doubles by Ahn Chi-hong and Yoon Dong-hee. However, with the bases loaded, Jeong Hoon, Lee Jung-geun and Jeon Jun-woo all struck out to end the inning.
Seventh-ranked Lotte lost its fourth straight game.
Third-ranked SSG Landers defeated the fourth-ranked NC Dinos 7-4 at home in Incheon, closing the gap to second-place KT to 0.5 games.
NC opened the scoring in the top of the first inning with a two-run shot to center field by Park Gun-woo.
SSG countered right back.
In the bottom of the first, leadoff hitter Choo Shin-soo singled to left, and Choi Ji-hoon followed with a triple to right-center field.
Choi came home on a wild pitch from NC starter Lee Jae-hak to tie the game at 2-2, and then Choi Jung took a Lee Jae-hak fastball over the right field wall for a solo shot.
NC tried to change the momentum in the first inning by making a change at catcher from Ahn Jung-yeol to Kim Hyung-joon without recording a single out, but the next batter, Choi Joo-hwan, also took advantage of Lee Jae-hak’s fastball for a towering solo shot.
After scoring four runs in the bottom of the first inning, SSG added another run in the second inning as Kim Sung-hyun, Choo Shin-soo, and Choi Ji-hoon singled in three consecutive batters, and Choi Ju-hwan scored on a bases-loaded walk to Choi Jung.
One out later in the inning, Han Yoo-seom blasted a solo home run to right field to make it 7-2.
Catcher Kim Hyung-jun hit his first and second solo home runs of the season in the fifth and eighth innings to cut the deficit to 7-4, but NC was unable to overcome the early deficit.
Doosan completed a midweek three-game sweep with an 8-6 victory over the last-place Kiwoom Heroes at the Gocheok Dome.
Doosan foreign-born Jose Rojas hit a leadoff double in the first inning, and with runners on second and third in a 4-4 tie in the fifth, he drove in the game-winning run with a double to center field.
Rojas added an RBI single with the bases loaded in the seventh inning, finishing the day 4-for-5 with three RBIs.
The Samsung Lions and Hanwha Eagles game in Daejeon was canceled due to rain. 먹튀검증