The LG Twins and KT Wiz will meet at Jamsil Stadium


The LG Twins and KT Wiz of the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) will meet on Friday at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul for the first game of the best-of-three best-of-five semifinals of the 2024 KBO postseason. The two teams met in the semifinals after battling for the title in last year’s Korean Series.

KT has named submarine Ko Young-pyo as the starter for Game 1. It’s a surprising choice, but it could be a move by manager Lee Kang-cheol.

Ko will be pitching in his fourth game in the last eight days. Ko last pitched out of the bullpen in the season finale against Kiwoom on May 28th. He was pulled early after starter Benjamin gave up six runs in the top of the fourth inning and was replaced by Joo Kwon with runners on first and second in the bottom of the fourth inning, trailing 6-1. Young-pyo Ko, who struck out to end the inning, was replaced with two on and two out in the ninth.

After five scoreless innings (48 pitches), KT took a 10-6 lead.

With the bases loaded and two outs, closer Park Young-hyun singled, scoring one run.

Ko pitched out of the bullpen in the cliffhanger game for fifth place and the wild card game for the fifth spot. He pitched 1⅔ innings (18 pitches) in the seventh inning with SSG trailing 1-2 in the fifth-place game on April 1, giving up a solo home run to Choi Jung in the eighth inning. In the second game of the wild-card deciding series against Doosan on April 3, he pitched 1 1/3 innings (14 pitches) of scoreless relief in the eighth inning with a 1-0 lead.

48 pitches – two days rest – 18 pitches – one day rest – 14 pitches – one day rest, and he’ll start Game 1 of the semifinals. 파워볼실시간 He’ll pitch four games in eight days, but he’s already thrown fewer pitches. Ko has appeared in 18 games this year, going 6-8 with a 4.95 ERA. In his one start against LG, he gave up five runs in 4⅔ innings.

The key will be how many pitches Ko throws in Game 1.

It’s likely to be around 50 pitches. If Ko Young-pyo, who has plenty of experience in big games, including the national team, can keep the game close until the third or fourth inning, KT could use a bullpen day to bring in pitchers.

So Min-joon, who has returned from elbow rehabilitation, could pitch one or two innings out of the bullpen. There’s also Son Dong-hyun, who threw 1.2 perfect innings (15 pitches) in Game 1 of the wild-card deciding game. If Kim and Kim Min-soo, who were a must-win pair in the regular season, recover from fatigue, the bullpen options will increase.

LG, meanwhile, has foreign pitcher Enes as its Game 1 starter. In 30 games this season, he has a 13-6 record with a 4.19 ERA. In two appearances against KT, he has a 2-2 record with a 5.25 ERA. He allowed two runs in five innings and five runs in seven innings.

LG plans to use Hernandez in the semifinals as a bullpen pitcher to pitch in crucial games. However, in Game 1, closer Yoo Young-chan will not be available due to a bereavement for his father. Hernandez’s shoulders are heavy with the responsibility of leading the back end.


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