The Doosan Bears met as a starting pitcher after 7 years. KT Wiz pitcher Eom Sang-baek (27) threw his ball from the mound, ending both team and individual losses.
Eom Sang-baek started the match against Doosan in the ‘2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League’ held at Suwon KT Wiz Park on the 19th.
From the beginning of the game, clean pitching continued. He cooked the opponent’s batting line by sending out only two batters until the beginning of the 1st to 3rd innings. The first crisis was in the top of the 4th inning when the team was leading 1-0. Yang Seok-hwan hit a timely 1 RBI at 1st, 1st and 3rd base, and the score was tied 1-1. Afterwards, in the first and second bases, Jose Rojas gave a right-handed hit, putting the bases full with one out. Yang Chanyeol is recording 4 hits in a row at bat.
Eom Sang-baek induced a ground ball to second base after a persistent game that went all the way to the 8th pitch. The situation also went bizarrely. When Yang Chan-yeol grounded, first base runner Rojas stopped near first base to avoid being tagged. In the meantime, kt fielder caught the runner on third base at home and then threw the ball to second base to get Rojas out. Eom Sang-baek, who posted two out counts in an instant, finished the inning with no additional runs.
After Eom Sang-baek found stability, he treated the beginning of the 5th inning as a tripartite offense and finished the mound that day. The final score was 5 innings, 4 hits, 2 walks, 3 strikeouts and 1 run. He set the stage for his team’s 6-1 victory. In his first match against Doosan since April 21, 2016, he pitched perfectly and broke both team and individual wins in a row.
After the game, Eom Sang-baek looked back on the crisis situation in the 4th inning, saying, “The fielders helped in the defense. In the 4th inning, the fielders handled the ground ball nicely in the crisis with the bases loaded. I was lucky.”
Catcher Jang Seong-woo and Hap were also important. kt coach Lee Kang-cheol also praised the battery breathing, saying, “Starter Eom Sang-baek overcame the crisis well and fulfilled his role, and I want to praise Jang Seong-woo’s lead.”안전놀이터
Eom Sang-baek also agreed. He was satisfied with looking back at the hap with Jang Seong-wu. He said, “In today’s game (19th), following Seong-Woo-hyung’s (Chang) lead, pitching focused on fastballs was effective. Seong-Woo-hyung’s lead was really good.”
In the last two games, Eom Sang-baek was shaken with 13 hits, 4 walks, 6 strikeouts and 10 runs in 9 innings. It was a far cry from his momentum last month, when he posted an average ERA of 0.53 in 3 games and 17 innings. He said, “I want to be reborn as a good starting pitcher by throwing more innings in the future.”