For the first time in three games, baseball’s KT Wiz rode a quality start (six or more innings pitched and three or fewer earned runs allowed) from starter Ko Young-pyo and a wedge home run from Park Byung-ho to victory.

KT came from behind to win 6-2 against the visiting NC Dinos of the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League at Changwon NC Park on Wednesday.

Riding a two-game winning streak, second-place KT narrowed the gap to five games over leader LG Twins, who did not play on the day.

They also halted a three-game winning streak by the third-place NC Dinos, who have been on a scary upswing of late, and moved to within 1.5 games of them.

It was a long-awaited return to form for ace Ko Young-pyo, who had been knocked around for six runs in five innings and six runs in six innings in his previous two outings in September.

He threw 111 pitches over six innings, allowing nine hits and one walk while striking out seven and walking two to earn his 11th win of the season.

He also reached the 100-strikeout plateau for the season, becoming the 19th player in KBO history to record triple-digit strikeouts in five consecutive seasons.

KT took an early lead in the first inning when Ko Young-pyo hit back-to-back doubles to NC’s No. 1 hitter Son As-seob and No. 2 hitter Park Min-woo.

After Shin Bon-ki drew a leadoff walk in the third, Kim Sang-soo laid down a sacrifice bunt to move the tying run to second, and Kim Min-hyuk tied the game with a double to left-center.

Anthony Alford followed with a two-run double to left field to make it 2-1.

Alford’s bat came alive once again in the fourth inning as NC tied the game again with an RBI single by Kim Hyung-jun.

With the score tied at 2-2 in the top of the seventh inning, Alford came to bat and drove in the game-winning run off NC’s second pitcher, Song Myung-ki.

KT made it 5-2 in the eighth with a pair of RBI singles from pinch-hitters Choi Sung-ho and Kim Sang-soo.

With the 5-2 lead, KT’s Park Young-hyun, who pitched a scoreless eighth inning with two strikeouts, became the youngest player in history to reach the 30-hit plateau at 19 years, 11 months, and two days.

In the ninth inning, Byung-ho Park hit a one-run home run to make it 6-2.

It was Park’s 14th home run of the season and his second straight game with a home run.

NC, which could have moved up to second place by beating KT on the day, failed to capitalize on its opponent’s mound and fell to its knees, ending its three-game winning streak. 토토