It’s the top of the sixth inning, 0-0, runners on first and third. Should he catch the foul fly to right field or not?
KT Wiz right fielder Kim Min-hyuk caught it and gave up the go-ahead run.
The game between the LG Twins and the KT Wiz at KT Wiz Park in Suwon on June 6. It was a tense pitching battle between KT starter Wes Benjamin and LG starter Casey Kelly.
Benjamin, the “LG killer” with a 0.71 ERA in four wins against LG, continued to pitch as expected with two hits and no walks until the fifth inning, while Kelly, who has struggled against KT this year with a 9.00 ERA, unexpectedly pitched a two-hit shutout until the fifth inning, making for an interesting pitching battle.
In the top of the sixth inning, LG had a chance to take the lead when Shin Min-jae singled to left, followed by a hit-and-run, and Kim Hyun-soo singled to left to put runners on first and third.
No. 4 Austin’s at-bat. Austin reached on a grounder to third base with two outs in the top of the first inning. On the second pitch of the at-bat, Austin swung and missed, sending the ball far to the right. Right fielder Kim Min-hyuk quickly ran to the right foul line and made a leaping catch of the ball as it fell into the net, all the way to the KT bullpen. Seeing this, third baseman Shin Min-jae tagged up and ran home to score. LG took the lead, 1-0.
Because it was a foul fly, Kim Min-hyuk may or may not have caught it. Considering where the ball landed and the quick feet of the third baseman, it was a tough call for home if he caught it. If he caught it, it would give him two outs but one run, and if he didn’t catch it, it would be a foul ball, 1B1S, and it would be a battle between Austin and Benjamin. We don’t know what the outcome would have been had we fouled it off on purpose. It could have given them the lead and an extra run, or it could have induced a double play to end the game.먹튀검증
Instead, Kim opted to retire the hard-hitting Austin to extend the count.
The catch became irrelevant as the team gave up one more run in the top of the eighth and one in the top of the ninth, falling behind 0-3. But in the bottom of the ninth, it was forgotten. With the bases loaded and two outs, Hwang Jae-gyun hit a lucky game-winning single that sailed just over the glove of third baseman Moon Bo-kyung to win the game 4-3. In the joy of victory, all of the previous disappointing plays were erased from memory.