‘I’m looking into the void with regret’
[MyDaily = By Kwak Kyung-hoon, Suwon] KT Hwang Jae-gyun avenged a bitter defeat a day earlier with a walk-off hit in a home game against LG in the ‘2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League’ at KT Wiz Park in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, on Saturday. 

KT rallied from a 0-3 deficit to score four runs in the bottom of the ninth inning for a thrilling 4-3 victory. 

The win snapped a four-game losing streak for KT, which remained in second place with 64 wins, 51 losses and two ties, and narrowed its lead over first-place LG to 6.5 games from 5.5.

LG third baseman Moon Bo-kyung jumped to catch Hwang Jae-gyun’s high-bound ball with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning with a 3-2 lead, but it grazed his glove and he had to bow his head to allow the winning run.

LG gave the fans a masterpiece pitching performance in the top of the fifth inning, with Kelly starting for KT’s Benjamin. 

LG broke the tense 0-0 streak first. In the top of the sixth inning, Shin Min-jae led off with a single and moved to third on Kim Hyun-soo’s single to left, and scored on Austin’s foul fly to right to take the lead. 

In the top of the eighth, against KT’s second pitcher Son Dong-hyun, Shin led off with a walk, stole second and advanced to third on an error by the catcher. Kim Hyun-soo followed with an RBI single to right field for a 2-0 lead.  

In the top of the ninth, KT’s Kim Young-hyun gave up a walk to Kim Min-sung, and Jo Jo-hyun doubled to left center to score Park Hae-min and Hong Chang-ki to make it 3-0 LG. 

In the bottom of the ninth, LG brought in Go Woo-seok, who had pitched 1⅔ innings of relief the day before. However, he gave up a leadoff double to Moon Sang-chul and a single to Jang Jang-woo to left-center. He struck out Ahn Chi-young to give himself some breathing room, but gave up a walk to Park Kyung-soo to put runners on first and second with one out. 

With the bases loaded, Hwang Jae-gyun hit a five-pitch pitch from Ko Woo-seok. Moon Bo-kyung jumped to catch the high pitch, but the ball hit Moon’s glove and fell backwards, allowing Kim Sang-soo to score from second base to end the game.메이저놀이터

In frustration, Moon fumbled on the third base line and didn’t get up for a while before heading to the dugout to be consoled by his teammates.

LG starter Kelly pitched seven innings of two-hit ball, striking out eight and walking none, but the bullpen’s struggles cost him his ninth win of the season.