"Let's take the game to the wire" manager's choice: Young Gun pitches three straight, adrenaline rushes, and he gets his first save.

 Three straight starts. But it didn't matter to KT Wiz pitcher Park Young-hyun. 

The KT Wiz won 7-6 in extra innings against the visiting Lotte Giants of the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League at Sajik Stadium in Busan on Aug. 8. The win was KT's fifth straight and completed a three-game sweep of Lotte. It was the first sweep of the season. 

The game was highlighted by a 5⅔-inning no-hitter by Choi Byeol-seong, a six-hit performance by Kim Sang-soo, Hwang Jae-gyun, and Choi Jae-dae, and a squeeze bunt by infielder Lee Sang-ho in the top of the 12th inning to seal the win. 

But even more impressive was the performance of the closer, Park Young-hyun. In his third consecutive start following games 6 and 7, Park threw a fastball that reached 148 km/h and closed out the bottom of the 12th inning with a triple play. He threw just 14 pitches. He threw 12 fastballs and finished the inning quickly and reliably. 

In fact, Park was not scheduled to pitch that day. Manager Lee Kang-cheol hadn't planned for him to pitch three straight innings before the game. But with all of the top pitchers and closers - Kim Min-soo, Joo Kwon, Son Dong-hyun, and Kim Jae-yoon - gone in the previous inning, Young-hyun was the only option for KT to secure the win. 

He had little time to warm up. After the top of the 12th inning, Park went to the bullpen to warm up by playing catch. However, he didn't have much time before the inning change. Park was only able to throw a few bullpen pitches before he had to take the mound in the bottom of the 12th inning.

"I wasn't scheduled to pitch today," Young-hyun said after the game. "When the team came back, the manager said, 'Let's try to win the game,' and I warmed up. You could say I went up in a hurry, but it was more like an adrenaline rush," he recalled. "In the bullpen, I focused on 안전놀이터 my conditioning, and on the mound, I was just trying to help the team win," he said. 

Park Young-hyun said, "I did my best to protect the victory in any way I could because a sweep was on the line," adding, "I didn't feel any pressure to pitch in three consecutive games. The coach also gave me a day off to recover. I want to pitch whenever I can to help the team." 

Meanwhile, Park Young-hyun pitched a scoreless inning to earn his first career save. "I didn't realize it right after the game, but now that I've calmed down, it feels good," he said of his first save, adding, "I didn't realize it right after the game, but now that I've calmed down, it feels good." Park Young-hyun pitched a scoreless inning to earn his first save.