The Lotte Giants chipped away at the pitching of the KT Wiz on Wednesday en route to a 9-4 victory at the Suwon KT Wiz Park. Among numerous scoring plays was an explosive third inning which brought the lead to six runs for the away team.
Following two runs that were batted in previously in the third inning, Jung Hoon took a ball into the stands in left field to put up three more runs for the team.
The win went to starter Seo Jun-won, who pitched six innings for the Giants, allowing five hits and one run. Only putting up two strikeouts, his performance relied heavily on the overall defence of the team.
Returning for his second year for the Wiz, William Cuevas pitched five innings to start, giving up six hits and runs, earning five strikeouts.
Getting The Early Lead
Min Byung-hun started the game off quick for the Giants with a double. A sacrifice fly from Son Ah-seop brought him in from third base later on.
In the third inning, a hit from Son batted Byung-hun home yet again A sacrifice fly from Lee Dae-ho allowed Jeon Jun-woo to score later that inning, advancing the Giants lead to three.
The rally ended with a bang, as Jung belted a three-run home run to left field, doubling the lead.
Wiz Get on The Board
Wiz scored their first run in the sixth, with a ground ball giving Yoo Han-joon the chance to come home from third. He advanced to the position after an error off of a hit from Mel Rojas Jr.
The entrance of Giants reliever Park Shi-young in the seventh inning kicked off a series of hits for the Wiz. They earned their second run after a hit to left field from Sim Woo-jun took Kang Min-gook to the home plate. A sacrifice fly in the next play scored another runner, tightening the game to within three runs.
Sealing The Deal
A sacrifice fly in the eighth inning from Jung Bo-geun allowed Dixon Machado to advance to home, moving the score to 7-3 for the Giants.
Bringing the score within three again for Wiz, Park Kyung-soo shot a ball into the grandstands in the eighth.
An insurance run in the ninth came in the form of a double from Jeon that took Min to the plate, making the game 8-4 for the Giants. Another run came in later in the evening after a pitch went past Wiz catcher Kang Hyeon-woo.
Pursuing A Sweep
The win puts the Giants up by two in the series with the Wiz. Giants are one of the three teams to start the season 2-0, including NC Dinos and Kiwoom Heroes. The final game in the series is set to be played tomorrow at 6:30PM KST (5:30AM EDT).
Around The KBO
After being tied through seven innings, the Kiwoom Heroes outscored the Kia Tigers in the eighth to go on and win 3-2.
An early series of runs scored against Samsung Lions starter Ben Lively proved hard to bounce back from, with the home team dropping 4-3 against the NC Dinos.
After a strong pitching performance from Ricardo Pinto held the Hanwha Eagles scoreless through five, early runs for the SK Wyverns allowed them to coast to a 5-2 victory.
A five-run third inning for the Doosan Bears was enough for the defending champions to earn their first win of the season, defeating the LG Twins 5-2.
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