KT Wiz defeat Kia Tigers in KBO Wildcard

Baseball

Published: 14 Oct. 2022, 10:08

KT Wiz defeat Kia Tigers in KBO Wildcard

Bae Jung-dae of the KT Wiz celebrates after hitting a bases-clearing double at the bottom of the eighth inning of the Wildcard game against the Kia Tigers at Suwon KT Wiz Park in Suwon, Gyeonggi on Thursday. [YONHAP]

The KT Wiz beat the Kia Tigers 6-2 on Thursday to win the Wildcard and advance to face the Kiwoom Heroes in the first round of the playoffs starting Sunday.

The Wiz capitalized on a big third inning to take an early 3-0 lead, with the Tigers slowly chipping away with runs of their own in the fourth and fifth before the Wiz piled on with three more runs at the bottom of the eighth for a 6-2 win.

There were no home runs in the game, with two well-timed doubles doing most of the work for the Wiz. Cho Yong-ho brought in two runs with a double off the wall in the third inning, with Bae Jung-dae clearing the bases with a three-run double at the bottom of the eighth.

Entering the Wildcard series as the fourth-place club, the Wiz had a one-game advantage and only needed a win or a tie in the opening game to take the series.

Thursday’s victory adds the 2022 Tigers to the long list of Wildcard clubs to fail to make it out of the opening game, and to the even longer list — featuring every Wildcard team since the round was introduced — to fail to advance further in the playoffs.

The Wiz will now move on to face the Heroes in the five-game first round of the playoffs starting Sunday, pitting two of the closest-ranked teams from this year’s regular season standing against each other.

The Heroes came alive in the second half of the season, climbing up the table to briefly challenge for first and second place before dropping back to fourth and then retaking third on Tuesday.

The club has maintained a close line against the Wiz this season, with eight wins, seven losses and a tie, but only managed to pip the Wiz to third place when the Suwon club lost their final game of the 2022 season against the LG Twins on Tuesday.

The first two games of the series on Sunday and Monday will be played at Kiwoom’s Gocheok Sky Dome in western Seoul, before moving down to Suwon KT Wiz Park in Suwon, Gyeonggi on Wednesday and Thursday. If there is a fifth game, it will be played at Gocheok the following Saturday, Oct. 22.

The winner of the first round of the playoffs will advance to face the Twins in the second round, starting on Oct. 24.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]