The Doosan Bears rode a strong outing from starter Brandon Waddell and a two-run homer from Yang Seok-hwan to snap a seven-game winless streak for the reeling KT Wiz.
Doosan won 7-4 against KT in the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League at Jamsil Stadium on Friday. With the win, Doosan improved its season record to 47 wins, 1 loss, and 43 draws (0.5222 winning percentage), overtaking KT (48 wins, 2 losses, and 44 draws, 0.5217 winning percentage) and returning to third place in the league after one day.
Doosan’s lineup was Jung Soo-bin (center field), Kim Jae-ho (shortstop), Yang Seok-hwan (first base), Yang Ji (designated hitter), Jose Rojas (left field), Kang Seung-ho (second base), Kim Tae-geun (right field), Jang Seung-hyun (catcher), Heo Kyung-min (third base), and starting pitcher Brandon.
KT countered with Anthony Alford (left fielder), Sang-chul Moon (designated hitter), Jae-gyun Hwang (third baseman), Byung-ho Park (first baseman), Sung-woo Jang (catcher), Sang-soo Kim (shortstop), Yoon-seok Oh (second baseman), Jeong-dae Bae (center fielder), Chi-young Ahn (right fielder), and starting pitcher Wes Benjamin.
Doosan bombarded the KT mound from the start of the game. KT’s starting pitching staff had been in excellent form during their recent seven-game winning streak, getting quality starts and shutouts, but they struggled in front of the Doosan bats.
In the top of the first inning, Jung Soo-bin led off with a double, and Kim Jae-ho followed with an RBI double to give Doosan a 1-0 lead. The scoring opportunities continued. With two outs, Rojas singled to center field to make it 2-0. Rojas advanced to second on a fielding error by Kang Seung-ho, and took advantage of a throwing error by third baseman Hwang Jae-gyun to score to make it 3-0.
Doosan continued to push KT around. In the bottom of the second inning, Jung Soo-bin hit an RBI triple to center field, making it 4-0. In the fourth inning, Kim Tae-geun led off with a double and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Jang Seung-hyun. Doosan took advantage of the error and crossed home plate on a wild pitch to make it 5-0.
The highlight came in the bottom of the fifth inning. With the bases loaded, Yang Seok-hwan hit a four-seam fastball from reliever Lee Sang-dong for a two-run home run (his 16th of the season) over the left field fence. The launch angle was 48.3 degrees, and the ball traveled 109.9 meters in an odd parabolic shape, further increasing the lead to 7-0.
Doosan gave up a big inning in the top of the eighth. Reliever Lee Hyung-beom gave up back-to-back singles to Song Min-seob and Ahn Chi-young. With runners on first and second, Alford hit an RBI double to make it 7-1. Changed pitcher Kim Kang-ryul gave up a sacrifice fly to Moon Sang-chul with runners on first and third to make it 7-2. With two outs, Hwang Jae-gyun hit a two-run homer to cut the deficit to 7-4, but no more runs were scored to preserve the win.
For Doosan, Brandon earned his fourth win of the season (2-2) with seven innings of four-hit ball, one walk and eight strikeouts, followed by Lee Hyung-beom (0-3), Kim Kang-ryul (⅔), Kim Myung-shin (⅓) and Hong Gun-hee (1) to preserve the win.
At the plate, Jung Soo-bin had a three-hit game, while Yang Seok-hwan energized the team’s offense with a home run.
On the other hand, KT’s starter Benjamin suffered his fourth loss of the season (11-1) after giving up five runs (four earned) on six hits in four innings with no walks and two strikeouts.메이저놀이터
At the plate, Hwang Jae-gyun hit a home run. Alford and Ahn Chi-young had multi-hit games, but were overshadowed by the team’s loss.