Dinos beat Wiz to begin KBO postseason series behind Fedde's excellent start
NC Dinos starter Erick Fedde celebrates after retiring the side in the bottom of the fifth inning of Game 1 of the second round in the Korea Baseball Organization postseason against the KT Wiz at KT Wiz Park in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, Monday. Yonhap
Starter Erick Fedde twirled six outstanding innings and the bats produced timely hits, as the NC Dinos defeated the KT Wiz 9-5 to open their South Korean baseball postseason series Monday.
Fedde struck out 12 batters, and the Dinos scored in each of the first four innings to take Game 1 of the best-of-five second round in the Korea Baseball Organization postseason at KT Wiz Park in Suwon, just south of Seoul.
In 32 previous editions of the second round played in the best-of-five format, teams that claimed Game 1 went on to take the series on 27 occasions, or about 78 percent of the time.
Game 2 is 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, back at KT Wiz Park.
Fedde, who won the regular season Triple Crown with 20 wins, 209 strikeouts and a 2.00 ERA, set a record for the most strikeouts in the second round with his dozen punchouts. The only blemish against him was a third-inning home run by Moon Sang-chul.
The opportunistic Dinos chased Wiz starter William Cuevas with no out in the fourth inning. They scored their nine runs on 13 hits. This was the third time in five postseason games that the Dinos reached double figures in hits.
Three Dinos hitters recorded three hits apiece. One of those three, Kwon Hui-dong, also knocked in a team-high three RBIs.
A ninth-inning grand slam by Bae Jung-dae made the final score more respectable for the Wiz. (Yonhap)