KT Wiz players walk off the field at KT Wiz Park in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, after losing to the LG Twins 6-5 in Game 3 of the first round in the Korea Baseball Organization postseason on Oct. 8, 2024. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Oct. 9 (Korea Bizwire) — A loss away from having their 2024 season ended, the KT Wiz shuffled their lineup deck once again Wednesday against the LG Twins.
The Wiz are down 2-1 in the best-of-five opening round of the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) postseason, following a 6-5 loss at KT Wiz Park in Suwon, just south of Seoul, on Tuesday night.
Back at the same stadium for the first elimination game of this series, Wiz manager Lee Kang-chul made several changes to his starting lineup.
Left fielder Kim Min-hyuck is back in the leadoff spot. He was held out of the starting lineup Tuesday and made a pinch-hit appearance in the ninth while dealing with the flu.
With left-hander Dietrich Enns starting for the Twins, the Wiz will have right-handed batting Moon Sang-chul play first base and bat fifth. Left-handed Oh Jae-il got the start in Tuesday’s game, and his error on a foul fly in the fifth set up a go-ahead, three-run homer by Austin Dean.
Oh Yoon-suk drew back in at second base in place of Kim Sang-su, who had started the past two games after missing time earlier in the postseason with a finger injury. Lee said Kim’s finger has flared up again.
“We have to put a lot of runs on the board,” Lee said. “We have to pounce on whatever opportunity we get to win this one and force Game 5.”
To that end, Lee said swingman Ko Young-pyo will be available in the bullpen. Ko started Saturday’s Game 1 on one day’s rest and tossed 56 pitches in four innings.
“If we’re up big today, ideally, we wouldn’t use him and save him for Game 5,” Lee said. “The best-case scenario would be to finish the game with just two relievers.”
The Wiz will start right-hander William Cuevas, who has never beaten the Twins over his six-year KBO career.
On the other hand, the Twins will stick with the same lineup that pounded out 10 hits, including two home runs, in Tuesday’s win.
LG Twins manager Youm Kyoung-youb celebrates his team’s 6-5 win over the KT Wiz in Game 3 of the first round in the Korea Baseball Organization postseason on Oct. 8, 2024. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
They have just two right-handed batters in the lineup, No. 3 hitter Austin Dean and No. 5 hitter Park Dong-won, but they each slugged a home run in Tuesday’s win.
Twins manager Youm Kyoung-youb is more worried about his pitching than his offense. His Game 4 starter, Dietrich Enns, will be pitching on three days’ rest for the first time in his career.
In case things go awry early, he will have versatile pitcher Elieser Hernandez ready.
“I hope Enns can go as long as possible,” Youm said. “Ideally, we would use Eli when we’re leading.”
Hernandez has not yet allowed a run in 4 1/3 innings this series. He got the final two outs of Tuesday’s game for the save after closer You Young-chan surrendered a two-run home run to Bae Jung-dae.
“We will be using both Eli and Young-chan as our closer, depending on the situation,” the manager said. “And Eli will be the first guy out of our bullpen if our starter gets into trouble early.”
The series had been tied at 1-1 before the Twins grabbed the lead Tuesday. On six previous occasions when the best-of-five first round had been tied at 1-1, the team that won the third game went on to win the series all six times.
As the Twins look to make it 7-for-7, Youm said trying to predict anything in baseball is a fool’s errand.
“Obviously, we’re in a pretty good spot, but there’s no guarantee in baseball,” he said. “There are so many variables and that’s what makes baseball so fun.”
(Yonhap)
