Starter Wes Benjamin pitched one-run ball using new sign-transmitting technology, and the offense provided just enough support, as the KT Wiz edged out the Kiwoom Heroes 4-3 in Seoul on Tuesday.
Benjamin became the first pitcher in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) to use PitchCom, as he held the Heroes to a run on five hits in 6 1/3 innings at Gocheok Sky Dome.
KT Wiz starter Wes Benjamin pitches against the Kiwoom Heroes during the teams’ Korea Baseball Organization regular-season game at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on July 16, 2024. (Yonhap)
PitchCom, which allows the transmitting of pitch signs without using finger signals, has been made available by the league starting this week, and its use is optional. Having experienced the system in Triple-A in 2022, Benjamin wore a receiver inside his cap, while catcher Jang Sung-woo put the sign transmitter on his knee.
And the Wiz gave Benjamin a 3-0 cushion before the left-hander even took the mound, by getting a pair of two-out hits off Heroes starter Ari
el Jurado.
First, it was Kim Sang-su with a two-run single to right field. Kim took second base on a high throw by right fielder Lee Ju-hyoung to home plate, and then scored on a follow-up single by Hwang Jae-gyun. The Wiz made Jurado throw 35 pitches in the first inning.
The Heroes got a run back in the bottom of the second, when cleanup Song Sung-mun led off with a solo home run off Benjamin.
Kang Baek-ho of the KT Wiz (R) scores against the Kiwoom Heroes during the teams’ Korea Baseball Organization regular-season game at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on July 16, 2024. (Yonhap)
It was Song’s 11th home run of this season, only two shy of his career high set in 2022.
The two starting pitchers went on to trade zeroes for the next few innings. Jurado settled down after the rocky opening frame and held the Wiz to just two singles over the next five innings.
Following Song’s solo shot in the second, Benjamin gave up just two more singles against the Heroes while striking out four through the sixth inning.
Ben
jamin also had plenty of support from his defense.
In the bottom first, second baseman Oh Yoon-suk robbed Kim Hye-seong of a base hit with a diving grab. Left fielder Kim Min-hyuck made a sliding catch on a sinking liner off the bat of Jang Jae-young in the bottom third.
Mel Rojas Jr. of the KT Wiz celebrates his solo home run against the Kiwoom Heroes during the teams’ Korea Baseball Organization regular-season game at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on July 16, 2024. (Yonhap)
Then in the bottom sixth, right fielder Jeong Jun-young, who’d entered the game as pinch hitter in the top sixth, made a running grab just in front of the wall to deny Kim Hye-seong an extra-base hit.
The Wiz added some insurance right after Jurado left the game. Facing reliever Cho Young-gun with one out in the top seventh, Mel Rojas Jr. smoked a solo shot to center field to extend the Wiz’s lead to 4-1.
The Heroes wasted a chance to eat into that lead in the bottom seventh, as the Wiz pulled off a “strike ’em out, throw ’em out” doubl
e play.
Two singles off Benjamin put runners at the corners for pinch hitter Won Sung-jun, with reliever Kim Min taking over on the mound.
Kim Ju-hyung of the Kiwoom Heroes (R) is tagged out by KT Wiz shortstop Kim Sang-su after trying to steal second base during the teams’ Korea Baseball Organization regular-season game at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on July 16, 2024. (Yonhap)
After battling Kim for six pitches, Won struck out swinging, and then runner at first, Kim Ju-hyung, got thrown out trying to steal second.
The Heroes made things more interesting by scoring twice in the bottom eighth. Kim Hye-seong doubled in a run, advanced to third on a wild pitch, and then came home on a single by Song Sung-mun to make it a 4-3 game.
With the tying run at first, the Wiz summoned their closer Park Yeong-hyun, who put out the fire by retiring the next two batters.
KT Wiz catcher Jang Sung-woo pushes a button on his PitchCom transmitter to give a sign to pitcher Wes Benjamin during a Korea Baseball Organization re
gular-season game against the Kiwoom Heroes at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on July 16, 2024. (Yonhap)
The Wiz failed to score after loading the bases with one out in the top ninth, but the Heroes went down quietly in the bottom ninth as Park struck out the side.
The Wiz have won three straight games to improve to 42-46-2 (wins-losses-ties). They are just 2.5 games out of the fifth and final postseason spot occupied by the SSG Landers, whose game was rained out Tuesday.
The Heroes fell to 37-50 and they’re still in last place.
Source: Yonhap News Agency
