KT at Shinsegae

INCHEON, South Korea (Interstat) — The first-place KT Wiz look to capture a series win against the Shinsegae Landers on Sunday afternoon at Munhak Baseball Stadium.

KT enters the game at 34-23-1, holding the league’s best record. Shinsegae sits in the bottom half of the standings at 25-32-2. First pitch is slated for the afternoon under partly cloudy skies and a temperature of 72 degrees.

The Wiz evened this three-game set with a 7-3 victory Saturday, one day after the Landers won 6-5. Bae Je-seong (5.0 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 5 K) earned the win in Saturday’s opener. The right-hander has been inconsistent this season, tossing a scoreless start Saturday but allowing four earned runs in consecutive outings against NC and Hanwha in May.

Takeda Shota started Saturday’s loss for Shinsegae, allowing two earned runs over five innings with three strikeouts. The Landers right-hander has not earned a victory this season. His last appearance was a 2-1 loss in quality-start fashion at Kia on May 24. In a mid-May matchup in Suwon, Takeda allowed nine earned runs in three innings in an 18-4 loss to KT.

The head-to-head history favors the home team. Shinsegae has won four of the past seven meetings in Incheon, including two of three in the prior series April 24-26. In that April set, the Landers won the first two games, 3-1 and 5-0, before the Wiz took the finale, 12-2.

Bae Je-seong, Saturday’s winning pitcher, has a 5.0-inning, four-hit, zero-earned-run outing in that series. He also struck out five. Heo Kyoung-min went 1-for-3 with a home run and four RBIs in the same game to pace the KT offense.

For Shinsegae, Jeon Ui-san was productive Saturday, going 2-for-4 with a home run and two RBIs. Choi Yong-jun threw 1.1 scoreless innings of relief.

Interstat’s game simulator projects KT as the winner, forecasting a 5-2 final score. The model gives the Wiz a 54.4 percent win probability via its ELO system.

KT has won six of its past 10 games and swept a three-game road series at Kiwoom last week. Shinsegae has lost seven of its past 10 and is coming off a series loss to Hanwha before this set with the division leaders.

After Sunday, the Wiz return home for a three-game series against the Samsung Lions starting Tuesday. The Landers travel to LG for a three-game set beginning the same day.