The reliable Ko Young-pyo (32-KT Wiz) made his 20th start of the season with a Quality Start (QS) (6+ innings pitched, 3 earned runs or less). It was his 16th QS of the season.
On June 6 against the Doosan Bears of the 2023 Shinhan Bank Solar KBO League at Jamsil Stadium, Ko threw seven innings of six-hit ball with one walk and five strikeouts.
He extended his QS streak to 10 games, which began on June 6 against the Lotte Giants (seven innings, one run). He has also posted a QS+ of three runs or less over seven innings in his last five games.
Young-pyo Ko is a pitcher who fills the ace role of minimizing runs in long innings, and whenever he’s on the mound, he does his job, racking up QS.
He was tied for first place in this category with 15 QS before this game, and with his 16th QS, he took over the lead.
He leads the QS+ category. He recorded his 14th QS+ on the day, while second-place David Buchanan (Samsung Lions – 9) has nine QS+.
Once again, Ko did not let the Doosan batters get away with anything. He left runners on second and third base several times.
After giving up a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning to Yang Seok-hwan with a double to the left field fence, he struck out Kang Seung-ho and Jang Seung-hyun in succession.
In the top of the third, he gave up an infield single and a stolen base to Jung Soo-bin, but retired Kim Jae-ho and Jose Rojas on back-to-back groundouts to end the inning.
After retiring the side in order in the fourth, Ko gave up another stolen base in the fifth when Kang Seung-ho led off with a single to left. However, with the bases loaded and no outs, he got out of the inning without allowing another hit.
The only run came in the sixth inning with a 2-0 lead. After a leadoff walk, Jose Rojas hit a double down the first base line. He then got Kim Jae-hwan to ground into a double play and gave up a run on a wild pitch to Kim In-tae at third base.
But there would be no more shakeups.
In the top of the seventh inning with a 3-1 lead, Ko gave up his first walk of the day to Kang Seung-ho and a single to Heo Kyung-min to put runners on first and third with one out.
Go Young-pyo came through with the final out to give KT a 3-1 victory. With the win, Ko improved to 10 wins (5 losses) and became the first native pitcher to reach double-digit wins. 토토
