Slugger Mel Rojas Jr. smacked a go-ahead three-run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning for his two-homer day, as the KT Wiz rallied past the SSG Landers 4-3 on Tuesday to secure the final Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) postseason ticket.

With the Wiz down 3-1, Rojas stepped in with runners at the corners against Kim Kwang-hyun, a veteran Landers starter making his first relief appearance in two years. At 2-0 count, Rojas jumped on a changeup and drove it deep into the left-field seats to put the Wiz up for good.

It was Rojas who had put the Wiz on the board with a first-inning solo home run against starter Roenis Elias.

For the Landers, Choi Jeong had broken a 1-1 tie with a single in the fifth and then given his team some breathing room with a solo shot in the top eighth.

But Kim couldn’t let the lead stand. He came on with a runner on and then allowed a pinch-hit single to Oh Jae-il, before Rojas turned the game upside down with his homer.

The Landers had a tying run at third base with two
outs in the top ninth, but Choi Ji-hoon struck out swinging against closer Park Yeong-hyun.

Earlier in the ninth, retiring Landers star Choo Shin-soo struck out as a pinch hitter in his final professional game. He had made his final regular-season appearance Monday night.

After winning the first fifth-place tiebreaker game in league history, the Wiz will go on to face the fourth-seed Doosan Bears in the wild card game at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul.

As the higher seed, the Bears only need a tie in two tries to reach the next phase. The Wiz, as the lower seed, must win two consecutive games, both on the road, to advance.

The higher-seeded team has won every year since the inception of the wild card system in 2015.

Source: Yonhap News Agency