KT Wiz cried on defense.
KT collapsed from the beginning in the first game of the playoffs (PO, best of 5) against NC Dinos held at Suwon KT Wiz Park on the 30th. He put himself in a quagmire with mistakes and poor play. The importance of defense in short-term games cannot be emphasized enough. KT’s appearance on this day was enough to be an example of a teacher from the other side.
KT’s mistakes and misguided plays continued one after another. It started when third baseman Hwang Jae-gyun missed NC leadoff hitter Park Min-woo’s fly ball in the top of the third inning when the team was down 0-2. He had a long flight time, but it was a ball he could handle. He then immediately allowed an RBI double to the follow-up batter Park Geon-woo. While left fielder Anthony Alford was unable to quickly deal with the batted ball that passed quickly through the left field line, first base runner Park Min-woo ran one more base and scored the third run.
As the fielder shook, starting pitcher William Cuevas also shook. Cuevas, who caught Kim Joo-won’s sent bunt at first base with no outs in the top of the fourth inning when the team was down 1-4, made a bad throw error while trying to catch the preceding runner at second base. Cuevas allowed one more base to each of the runners with a wild pitch during the follow-up hitter Son A-seop’s at-bat, and then hit a right-handed hit with an RBI by Son A-seop at second and third base with no outs.
It wasn’t the end. In the top of the 4th inning, with the game tied at 1-6, the center fielder missed Kwon Hee-dong’s fly ball with 2 outs and runners on first and second, completely giving up the mood. Although the batted ball continued to break, this erroneous play was even more disappointing as Bae Jeong-dae detected the point of the falling ball in advance. For the record, it was Kwon Hee-dong’s 2-RBI triple to right-center.
The snowball that KT rolled continued to grow. In the top of the 5th inning, with 2 outs and runners on 1st and Son A-seop’s single that was slightly past the 3rd baseman’s height, Alford was once again at a loss. This time, Alford was unable to catch the batted ball right away and looked around before throwing the ball late. Although it did not result in a goal being conceded, it was one of many aspects that showed KT’s defensive ability that day스포츠토토. Cuevas also failed to show the same performance as in the regular season, collapsing with 6 hits, 1 home run, and 7 runs in 3 innings, with only 4 earned runs due to poor defense.