The KT Wiz ended their seven-game winning streak with starting baseball.

KT lost 4-7 against the Doosan Bears in the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul on Friday. The loss ended their seven-game winning streak and dropped them back to third place in the league.

KT had been on a seven-game winning streak until the last four days, quickly moving up to third place in the league. The starting pitchers played a big role in KT’s seven-game winning streak. Starting with starting pitcher Uhm Sang-baek (6 innings, 2 runs) against the NC on the 28th of last month, the seven-game winning streak was followed by Lee Byeol-sung (6⅓ innings, 1 run) against the NC on the 29th, Wes Benjamin (6 innings, 2 runs) against the NC on the 30th, and Ko Young-pyo (8 innings, no runs) against SSG on August 1, William Cuevas (7 scoreless innings) against SSG on August 2, Uhm Sang-baek (1 run in 7 innings) against SSG on August 3, and Jeobusung Choi (2 runs in 6 innings) against Doosan on August 4, all succeeded in achieving a quality start (6 innings and 3 earned runs or less). And all of them won their starts.

In a pregame interview, Lee said, “When other starters are doing so well, I feel like I want to pitch well to match them. It makes you feel less pressure and more nervous at the same time. In terms of exclusivity, I thought it would be difficult yesterday because I threw 80 pitches in the third inning, but Geary threw until the sixth inning and gave up only two runs. So the bullpen is only getting the guys out and the rest of us are just resting,” he said, laughing at his starters’ performance.

But in this game, Benjamin would eventually break down. After being hit by a pitch in the first inning and shaken by a fielding error, Benjamin only lasted until the fourth inning. He gave up five runs (four earned) on six hits and two walks in four innings of work, ending KT’s streak of seven straight quality starts and seven straight wins.

The KT offense was stymied by Doosan starter Brandon Waddell, who didn’t score a run until the seventh inning. The bats came alive in the eighth inning after Brandon left the mound, scoring four runs, but it was difficult to overcome the massive deficit, which made it all the more disappointing to lose the pitching matchup early in the game. 토토