Doosan Bears won three consecutive games with the strength of the mound. Based on the good pitching of the native ace Kwak Bin and the must-win group, they won a thrilling victory by one point.
Doosan beat KT Wiz 3-2 in Game 13 of the 2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League held at KT Wiz Park in Suwon on Sunday. With a complete 4-0 victory the previous day, Doosan scored a winning streak for two consecutive days.메이저놀이터
Doosan Bears’ starting pitcher Kwak Bin allowed five hits, two walks and four strikeouts in seven ⅔ innings, laying the groundwork for his team’s victory. He played the role of “inning Eater” with his third quality start of the season (pitching seven innings or more, three earned runs or less).
Kwak threw a powerful fastball with a maximum speed of 154 kilometers along with various breaking balls including sliders, changeups, and curves. It was impressive to see him rapidly increasing the out count by aggressive pitching.
The Doosan Bears, led by head coach Lee Seung-yeop, beat KT Wiz 3-2 in Game 13 of the 2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League held at KT Wiz Park in Suwon on Sunday. By winning three consecutive games and securing the winning series of three consecutive games over the weekend, they have laid the groundwork for fourth-place Mercury to leap to the second-place spot. Photo by Expo News DB
Kwak Bin also washed away his lackluster performance with four hits, six walks, six strikeouts and four runs (three earned) in four ⅓ innings against the LG Twins on the 6th and two innings against the SSG Landers on the 11th, six hits, one homer, two walks, two strikeouts and six runs in two innings against the KIA Tigers on the 30th of last month.
Doosan closer Kim Taek-yeon earned 15 saves this season by allowing two hits, one walk, two strikeouts and no run in one inning. With the bases loaded with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning, Kim displayed outstanding crisis management ability by striking out Shin Bon-ki and Park Min-seok in succession.
In Doosan’s batting lineup, the fielders named in the starting lineup, including leadoff Jung Soo-bin, 2 hits and 1 run in 5 at-bats, 2 hits and 1 RBI in 3 at-bats for Yang Eui-ji, 3 hits in 4 at-bats for Lee Yoo-chan, and 1 hit in 2 at-bats for 1 RBI and 1 stolen base, performed well.
Yang Eui-ji completed his career-high 1,800 hits with an RBI single in the top of the fifth inning. He became the 26th player in the KBO league to hit 1,800 hits, adding another honorable history to his career.
With the victory, Doosan posted 61 wins, 55 losses and two draws this season, widening its gap with fifth-ranked SSG Landers (56 wins, 57 losses and one draw) to 3.5 games, giving a green light to fourth-ranked Mercury. It trailed the second-ranked LG Twins (60 wins, 51 losses and two draws), who were beaten by the KIA Tigers for two consecutive days, by 1.5 games, laying the groundwork for its leap to the top ranks.
At the same time, Doosan continued its absolute advantage against KT by posting 10 wins and 3 losses overall in the 2024 season. Doosan is clearly dispelling regret from its weak performance by KT last year with five wins, 10 losses and one draw.
After the game, Doosan manager Lee Seung-yeop praised, “Starting pitcher Kwak Bin continued his team’s winning streak with a native ace-like pitch,” adding, “He threw a heavy fastball until the end of the eighth inning and did not hand over the flow to the opponent’s lineup.”
“I expect Kwak Bin to show as good as he did today in the rest of the second half,” he said, adding, “Lee Byung-hun, a must-win group, and Kim Taek-yeon, a closer, who took the mound afterwards, also did not lose the lead by one point.”
Manager Lee Seung-yeop also continued to give positive feedback to the batters. He mentioned Cho who hit a timely RBI single in the top of the second inning, and Yang Eui-ji who hit a timely RBI single in the top of the fifth inning.
Manager Lee Seung-yeop said, “In the batting line, Cho made a preemptive timely hit and succeeded in a squeeze bunt in the top of the eighth inning to open the lead,” adding, “Yang Eui-ji’s hit, which broke the balance of the tie in the top of the fifth inning, was also effective.”
He added, “Even though it was an away game, many fans came and cheered for me for two consecutive days. Thank you always.”
Meanwhile, Doosan will try to sweep three consecutive weekend games and win four consecutive games with left-hander Young-gun and Choi Seung-yong as its starting pitcher on the 18th. KT aims to escape consecutive losses by banking on its fastball side arm Um Sang-baek.