The replacement starter was defeated, giving up 6 runs in 3 innings. The batting line failed to score a single run in 20 innings against the 9th place team. KT, which had a monthly winning percentage of 80% last month, is facing a crisis.먹튀검증
KT Kim Min started the 15th game of the season against Kiwoom in the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League held at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on the 3rd and became the losing pitcher after allowing 6 hits, 2 walks, 3 strikeouts, and 6 runs (5 earned) in 3 innings.
Due to Eom Sang-baek’s injury, KT brought out the card to replace Kim Min, who was selected in the first round. Min Kim’s pre-game record is 6.28 ERA with no wins or losses in 12 games. He made a relief appearance against Hanwha in Daejeon on August 18th, allowing 2 runs in 1⅔ innings, then took a long break and finally took the starting mound on this day.
Kim Min’s starting pitch was about 3 years and 3 months after the Suwon KIA game on June 10, 2020, before Sangmu’s enlistment. At that time, he had the bitter memory of being a losing pitcher in a difficult situation, allowing 8 runs (6 earned) in 1⅓ innings and an ERA of 40.50. Coach Lee Kang-cheol, who met before the game, said, “Kim Min maintained her condition well despite her long break. If he pitches well, he’ll keep going. He expressed his excitement, saying, “His ball control has improved recently,” but in the end, the nightmare from three years ago was repeated.
Until the second inning, he showed off a sense of stability that was unusual for a replacement starter. Starting with a 10-pitch three-out in the first inning, he was hit by a left-field hit from leadoff pitcher Song Seong-moon in the second inning, but he struck out Joo-hyung Lee, who has recently shown good hitting skills, with a looking strikeout and hit Hwi-jip Kim with a double play, allowing no runs.
The nightmare started from episode 3. The problem was a missed double hit by leader Lim Byeong-wook. He followed up by striking out Kim Soo-hwan with a fly ball to right field and Kim Si-ang with a missed swing, but Kim Tae-jin’s infield hit and Kim Hye-seong’s walk led to a 2-run, go-ahead hit against Ronnie Dawson with the bases loaded with two outs.
The fourth inning also started with a double by leadoff leader Lee Joo-hyung. Then, third baseman Hwang Jae-gyun’s catching error occurred, and he was in danger of reaching first and third base with no outs. Then, he met Byeong-wook Lim and hit a painful two-run double on the first pitch. Kim Min finished the game early after giving up a walk against Kim Soo-hwan in the follow-up, and being replaced by Jo Yi-hyun. The number of pitches is 57. Following Cho Yi-hyeon’s wild pitch, Kim Si-ang allowed two RBIs and a double, and the two successor runners both hit home.
Kim Min wasn’t the only one to blame. The cold batting lineup also added to the team’s crisis. The batting line consisting of Kim Min-hyuk, Bae Jeong-dae, Anthony Alford, Park Byeong-ho, Hwang Jae-gyun, Oh Yun-seok, Park Kyung-soo, Shin Bon-ki, and Kang Hyeon-woo faced Kiwoom starter Ariel Jurado and were tied with no hits and 1 walk in 6⅔ innings. After Hurado went down, Park Byung-ho and Ahn Chi-young created the first chance with consecutive hits, but even this was canceled out by Oh Yun-seok’s fly ball to right field.
KT suffered a lethargic defeat in two consecutive games following a 0-3 complete loss the previous day. Starting with the 8th inning of the Gocheok Kiwoom game on the first day of September, there were 20 consecutive scoreless innings. Coach Lee said before the game, “If you look at recent games, we have rarely played well and won. There were many victories due to the opponent’s mistakes. He expressed concern, saying, “Currently, the feeling of hitting has decreased a lot,” but amid a slump in batting, the team suffered a sweep loss to 9th-place Kiwoom.
The first crisis came to KT, which rose to second place in August with an overwhelming winning percentage of 19 wins and 4 losses (winning rate of .826).