The SSG Landers of the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) overcame their nemesis, KT Wiz's Ko Young-pyo (33), who has been weak all season, to win their fifth straight game.

SSG extended its winning streak to five games with a 4-1 victory over KT Wiz in the 2024 Shinhan Bank SOL Bank KBO League at KT Wiz Park in Suwon, South Korea, on March 21. With 67 wins, two draws, and 68 losses for a .496 winning percentage, SSG is still in sixth place in the league. However, the victory over fifth-place KT (69 wins, 2 draws, 69 losses, .500 winning percentage) helped them pull within half a game of KT.

Ahead of a game that would be crucial to their postseason hopes, SSG was not expecting an easy game. Their nemesis, Ko Young-pyo, was starting for KT. Go hasn't had a great season, going 5-8 with a 5.12 ERA in 17 games (95 innings) this season. However, it was a different story against SSG, as he was dominant in three games (20 innings) with a 1.80 ERA. His career record against them was 13-5 with a 3.38 ERA in 30 games (138⅓ innings), and even stronger since 2021 with a 10-1 record in 14 games (95 innings) and a 2.08 ERA.

In this game, SSG batters struggled to find a way to get to Go Young-pyo. They were scoreless through the first three innings, falling behind KT 0-1. However, in the fourth inning, Guillermo Heredia hit a solo home run to turn the tide. In the sixth inning, Han Yoo-seom hit a solo home run to make it a 2-1 game. Ko Young-pyo pitched six innings, allowing two runs on six hits (one home run) with two walks and four strikeouts before being replaced by Kim Min-soo in the seventh inning.

SSG batters were unable to find a way to get to him. Ko did his part by pitching a quality start (six innings and three earned runs or less). However, SSG starter Roenis Elias outpitched him, allowing one run on six hits and two walks with seven strikeouts in seven innings. The batters were able to minimize the runs against Ko and responded to Elias' strong outing by taking advantage of KT closer Park Young-hyun.

Park Sung-han, who had a 3-for-2 performance with a crucial two-run double off Young-hyun, said in a postgame interview, “(Ko Young-pyo) is a very good pitcher and he pitched too well against us. Honestly, everyone is bad, so I thought I would just get one hit, but I think I felt more comfortable because I got a hit from the first at-bat. Even though we didn't score a lot of runs, Elias pitched well and I think we kept the momentum going and got a good win today.” “We all knew how important the next two games against KT were, so I think we all wanted to get some hits. I felt the same way, and so did everyone else.”

The game had a postseason-like atmosphere, as the heat of the day had dissipated after the fall rains. “Today, with the weather and the fans supporting us, it smelled a little bit like fall, and I have to keep smelling it,” said Park, who smiled. ”Of course, it will be difficult to win. But in this atmosphere, I think we can try, and I think we can show a good game,” he said, reinforcing his determination to play fall baseball.

Elias, who won the opening game against Ko Young-pyo, said, “I'm very happy that we were able to win a very important game to prepare for the fall baseball season. KT has a lot of good hitters, so I gave it everything I had early on and my focus paid off. I was disappointed that we had a lot of clutch situations in the seventh inning, but our coach came on the mound and settled us down, so I think we were able to get through it.” 

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