KT Wiz pitchers put on a show in 2-0 win to tie up playoff series

KT Wiz starter Wes Benjamin celebrates during a 2-0 win over the Kiwoom Heroes to tie up the first round of the KBO playoffs 1-1 at Gocheok Sky Dome in western Seoul on Monday. [NEWS1]

The KT Wiz beat the Kiwoom Heroes 2-0 on the road on Monday, tying up the first round of the playoffs at 1-1 as the series breaks for a day before resuming in Suwon, Gyeonggi on Wednesday.

KT’s low-scoring win came at the hands of starter Wes Benjamin, who pitched seven scoreless innings to lead the Wiz to victory.

Monday’s outing marked Benjamin’s second in the postseason, after appearing for an inning in relief against the Kia Tigers during the Wildcard last week and striking out the side.

Benjamin continued to dominate on Monday, throwing nine strikeouts and allowing just five hits and one walk, leaving reliever Park Yeong-hyun to throw two scoreless innings and wrap up the game with barely a dent in the KT bullpen.

Benjamin’s confidence against the Heroes doesn’t come as a big surprise. Since joining the Wiz in May, Benjamin has had the Heroes’ number like no other starter in the league, posting a 0.78 ERA and allowing just two runs in four starts against the west Seoul side.

While Benjamin held things down on the mound, the Wiz managed to string together seven hits to take two runs, enough to win the game despite a fairly quiet offensive performance.

Both runs came at the top of the first inning, when sluggers Park Byung-ho and Kang Baek-ho picked up knocks with runners on base. Bae Jung-dae and Anthony Alford both came around to score, giving the Wiz the lead before most fans had even found their seats.

With the win, the series is now tied at one game apiece after the Heroes won 8-4 in the opening game on Sunday.

With two games played at the Heroes’ Gocheok Sky Dome in western Seoul, the five-game series now breaks for a day before resuming at KT’s Suwon KT Wiz Park in Suwon on Wednesday. Two games will be played in Suwon, and, if a fifth game is needed, the series will return to Gocheok.

The match-up between the Wiz and the Heroes in the first round of the playoffs pits 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 Oct. 11.

Dropping into fourth place after that game, the Wiz had to play the Wildcard series against the Tigers while the Heroes advanced straight to the playoffs proper.

The Wiz made short work of the Tigers, beating them 6-2 on Thursday last week to immediately win the series with some solid station-to-station baseball. 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.

The winner of the first round of the playoffs — which will be determined no earlier than Thursday — will advance to take on the Twins in the five-game second round series starting on Oct. 24.

With 87 wins and 55 losses, the Twins have had a dominant season and maintain a winning head-to-head record against every other KBO team except the Landers and, surprisingly, the eighth-place Lotte Giants.

The winner of that series will move on to face the well-rested Landers in the Korean Series, kicking off on Nov. 1 and finishing by Nov. 9 at the earliest.

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