How Many Games Must the Awful KT Wiz Bullpen Just Give Away?

The lovable upstart KT Wiz were an abject disaster out of the gate. A horrendous bullpen snatched defeat out of the jaws of victory over and over again over the first eight games, leaving the plucky Wiz at 1-7 and miles away from where they wished to be. But all that began to change with a great awakening of Wiz bats and a five-game winning streak to give some hope to weary fans.

Sadly, though, the relief pitching is back on its bull, blowing a lead against the LG Twins today in Seoul. Starter Odrisamer Despaigne once again saw a stellar outing (one-run ball over seven innings) turn to dust when manager Kim Jin-wook turned to other arms. That decision aged worse than bad guys in the Indiana Jones franchise.

Ju Kwon unhelpfully surrendered two runs in the eighth and closer Lee Dae-eun continued his frustrating habit of dumping fuel on opposing fire in the ninth, allowing yet another victory to slip away. Dae-eun has been comically bad thus far, compiling an 0-3 record with a 10.13 ERA while managing to piddle away every save chance but one.

Now, to be fair, he had help. Check out this woeful bit of defense that allowed the game-tying run to score and game-winning run to advance to third.

Not what anyone wants right there.

But the larger point is this: how much longer are the Wiz going to put the ball in Dae-eun's hands for the final outs? It almost feels irresponsible at this point. Then again, there aren't many solid contenders for the position on staff right now as the entire bullpen has been problematic.

On one hand it's nice to know KT is capable of mashing the ball better than anyone else in the KBO. On the other, it's quite disappointing to parlay the best offense in the world into a decidedly not-nice 6-9 record.