LG Twins’ Choi Won-tae, who never lets a crisis get to him, tasted victory in his first meeting with his hometown team.
The LG Twins won their 14th game of the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League season on Wednesday with an 8-4 victory over the KIUM Heroes at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul to extend their winning streak to four games and clinch the winners’ bracket. They also reached 60 wins, the furthest of any of the 10 clubs this season. Their season record is 60 wins, 2 draws and 35 losses.
Choi Won-tae earned his eighth win of the season, allowing two runs on six hits and two walks while striking out five in five innings of work, putting him two wins away from reaching double-digit wins for the first time in four years since 2019 (11).
Choi ran into trouble in the top of the first inning. In the first inning, shortstop Oh Ji-hwan made a throwing error on Kim Hye-sung’s grounder, and the next batter, Ronnie Dawson, hit a double. It looked like a respite for Choi, as the runner was tagged out on the way back from the third base line, but he gave up an RBI single to Song Sung-moon with two outs in the second inning.
Choi Won-tae retired Lee Ju-hyung, Lim Byung-wook, and Kim Tae-jin in order in the top of the second, and the top of the third, when Kim Dong-heon led off with a single, was also scoreless. Trouble came in the top of the fourth inning. With two outs, Lee Ju-hyung singled and Lim Byung-wook walked to put runners in scoring position, and Kim Tae-jin singled to drive in another run.안전놀이터
However, it was Choi’s crisis management skills that kept him in the game. He ended a two-out rally in the top of the fourth inning with a grounder to first base by Kim Jun-wan, and in the top of the fifth, after a leadoff single by Kim Hye-sung, he shut down the center field lineup of Dawson, Song Sung-moon, and Kim Hui-jip without allowing a run. It was Choi’s final inning, with exactly 100 pitches.
While there were some things to reflect on in terms of content, the team could also smile because Choi minimized the runs until the fifth inning. After the game, LG coach Yeom Kyung-yeop praised Choi’s pitching, saying, “He threw a lot of pitches because he had a low first-pitch strike rate, but he did his job as a starting pitcher,” which paved the way for the team’s victory.