KT Wiz infielder Hwang Jae-gyun gave LG Twins closer Ko Woo-seok a cool bath for the second time in a day.
Hwang Jae-gyun hit a game-tying single against Go Woo-seok in the bottom of the ninth inning when the Wiz were trailing LG 2-3 at Katie Wiz Park in Suwon on June 6.
It was a moment that avenged a bitter loss a day earlier, both for Hwang and for KT.
KT had lost to LG 4-5 the day before, and Hwang was the last batter to strike out against Go Woo-seok with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning.
After shaking his head at a 152 mph fastball on a full count, Hwang hit a 145 mph cut fastball on a two-pitch, two-strike count for a hit.
The pitch hit the infield and bounced hard, heading toward third baseman Moon Bo-kyung. However, the ball grazed the tip of Moon’s glove as he leaped and slid out of the outfield.
With his ninth career walk-off hit, Hwang Jae-gyun is tied for fourth on the list with Song Ji-won (retired), Oh Ji-hwan (LG) and Choi Hyung-woo (KIA Tigers).
“I thought (the ball) was going to be bound and caught (by Moon Bo-kyung),” Hwang said after the game, “so I ran hard thinking I had to stay at first base, but the ball rolled backwards.” He wiped his chest.
The previous day against Go Woo-seok, he recalled that he was too concerned with his changeup.
“When I analyzed my power, I saw that my changeup had increased a lot, and the fact that I held my curveball well in the two-ball two-strike game was too much in my head,” Hwang said.
“Today, I entered the batter’s box with the idea that even if I struck out against a changeup, I had to hit a fastball in front of me,” he said.
Although he drew a foul on his first pitch, Hwang eventually erased the pain of the previous day with a walk-off hit.
Hwang, who hadn’t smiled the day before when he became the 18th player in the KBO to reach 2,000 hits, was all smiles as the team snapped a four-game losing streak.
“As a senior, I shouldn’t be happy about my personal record…” Hwang said, “I feel better that we broke the losing streak today.”
With the win, second-place KT is now 5.5 games behind leader LG.
Hwang Jae-gyun said, “The players were saying, ‘We’ve been playing so well that we’ve come so far. We talked about it, saying, ‘It seems like a crisis comes once in a while, so let’s take it easy and go with the flow,'” Hwang said.
Hwang Jae-gyun repeatedly emphasized the word ‘orderly’ and said, “If we chase after the top for no reason and it goes wrong and we get caught at the bottom, I think we will have good results if we just win the games we are supposed to win.” 먹튀검증