No matter how famous the team is for its “slow starter,” it is clear that it is an unexpected move.
The KT Wiz, one of the “candidates” for this year’s championship, is in trouble from the beginning. KT bowed its head to 7-11 against the Doosan Bears in the 2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League held at KT Wiz Park in Suwon on the 27th.
Before the game on the day, there was a clear hope of escaping consecutive losses and winning the first game of the season. That’s because Ko Young-pyo (33) was the starting pitcher that KT put forward.
Who is Ko Young-pyo? He is one of the best aces in the league who has played for the national team as a professional baseball player. After the end of the last season, KT signed its first non-FA multi-year contract with Ko and handed him a huge five-year total of 10.7 billion won (approx. Considering Ko’s career and symbolism, the deal was well deserved.
Doosan’s “enemy” Lee Seung-yeop appeared to be wary of Ko even before the game. “We were not good at hitting Ko, and I think it’s time to win,” Lee said. Last year, Doosan faced Ko twice, but failed to win both games.
But what? Ko was completely overwhelmed by Doosan’s firepower. He threw his first pitch to Jung as soon as he took the mound in the top of the first inning, resulting in a triple to the left-center field. Soon after, he grounded Henry Ramos to shortstop, but the third baseman could not stop Jung from scoring a point. Ko, who had a shaky start as she lost just three minutes into the game, lost six runs in the third inning alone, and ended up collapsing.
The trouble was that he allowed a walk to leadoff hitter Jung Soo-bin. Ko, who gave up one run after consecutive hits by Ramos and Yang Eui-ji, struggled as he was hit by a double by Kim Jae-hwan and Yang Seok-hwan, and Kang Seung-ho could hardly get out of the swamp of slump due to a timely triple. Due to Ko’s unexpected slump, KT had to take an 0-7 lead. In addition, Ko allowed one run each in the fourth and fifth innings, and left the mound with a shocking result of 13 hits, one walk, two strikeouts and nine runs in four innings. 핑크알바
It was the first time since his professional debut that Ko allowed as many as nine earned runs in a game. In a match against Masan NC on Aug. 7, 2018, he allowed 12 hits, four strikeouts, and nine runs in five innings, but had eight earned runs at the time. With 86 pitches left on the day, Ko focused on fastballs (43), changeups (32), and curves (11), and posted a maximum speed of 139 kilometers.
Yang Eui-ji, who took the lead in defeating Ko by exploding three hits, two RBIs and one run from five times at bat in the match, said, “I was very weak to Ko, but she helped me a lot in the analysis part. Thanks to him, I was able to win. From the first start of the season, the players talked about winning. I was able to win as (Yang) Seok-hwan was a good captain.”
It was a shocking result for KT. The team has been mobilizing its strongest starting pitchers since the opening game, but has yet to secure even a single win. Despite starting pitchers William Cuevas, Eom Sang-baek, Wes Benjamin and Ko Young-pyo from the opening game in succession, the team had an unexpected result of winning four consecutive games in the season.
Of course, KT was at the bottom of the standings at the beginning of the season last year, but it also showed strong determination to finish the regular season second and advance to the Korean Series. The difference, however, is that a number of injured players continued to emerge last year. KT players all said, “I want to do well this year from the beginning of the season,” but strangely, they have not had a fresh start yet again this year.
KT will pitch as its starting pitcher Wonson, who was selected as its fifth starting pitcher at the match against Doosan Bears in Suwon on Tuesday. Wonson is a 19-year-old rookie pitcher who will make his professional debut soon. Of course, Wonson was well received at the spring camp, but this does not guarantee his first win. Will he be able to report his first win in the season this time? It remains to be seen how long KT’s struggles will continue.