The Hanwha Eagles succeeded in finishing last with 3 wins in a row after 6 losses in a row. Fireballer Moon Dong-ju (20) threw a fastball with a speed of up to 159.9 km, towing the last place.
Moon Dong-ju started in the home game against KT in the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League held at Daejeon Hanwha Life Eagles Park on the 7th, leading Hanwha to a 6-2 victory with 5 innings, 3 hits, 3 walks, 5 strikeouts and 1 run.
Moon Dong-ju, who won his 2nd win (2nd loss) of the season, also lowered his ERA from 2.38 to 2.28. It was his first appearance on the 6th of last month against Daegu Samsung (5 scoreless innings) and 31 days after the victory. Thanks to Moon Dong-joo’s good pitching, Hanwha also won three consecutive wins for the first time in the season.
The beginning of the first episode was a bit unsettling. After sending No. 1 Hong Hyun-bin out on a walk after a 7-pitch game, Jo Yong-ho got an infield hit. The assault ball hit Moon Dong-ju’s right leg and was deflected to third base. He struck out Anthony Alford on a swing, but Kang Baek-ho hit a timely hit with an RBI.
The ball, which would have been a ground ball in the normal defensive position, became empty due to the shift, leading to a run. He could have been shaken mentally, but Moon Dong-ju’s mentality was different. The next hitter, Moon Sang-cheol, induced a ground ball to third base with a first pitch curve, and ended the inning without any additional runs with a 5-4-3 double hit. 메이저놀이터
After that, KT’s other lines were blocked until the 5th inning. With a fast pitching tempo, he instantly deleted 4 innings without any crisis. He used high-angle curves (22), sliders (9) and changeups (4) centered on fastballs (51) with a maximum of 159.9 km and an average of 153 km. After meeting the victory requirement with 86 pitches, he went down.
Moon Dong-ju, who had blocked 6 runs in 17⅔innings and an ERA of 3.06 in the previous 3 games, however, received only 2 losses without a win as he did not receive any support from other players. It was a severe misfortune for the young player, but the Hanwha batting line, which started to catch fire recently, took a long time to fire support. In the third inning, a sacrifice fly and Roh Si-hwan’s two RBIs and timely hits scored 3 runs, and Hanwha succeeded in turning the game around, with 2 RBIs and timely hits in the 4th inning, opening the score to 5-1.
Hanwha, who scored 8 points and 10 points respectively against Doosan in Jamsil on the 3rd and 4th, scored points when needed and won 6-2. KT starting pitcher Eom Sang-baek, who had shown his power with an ERA of 0 points (0.53) before the match, was knocked out early with 6 hits, 2 walks, 2 strikeouts and 5 runs in 4 innings. 7th to 9th, Lee Jin-young (2 hits), Oh Seon-jin (2 hits), and Yoo-gyeol (1 hit, 3 RBIs) combined for 5 hits and 3 RBIs, sparking a rebellion in the lower batting line.
With this, Hanwha succeeded in reversing the atmosphere with 3 consecutive wins after 6 consecutive losses. Hanwha, who raised the season record to 9 wins, 18 losses, 1 draw, and a win rate of 33%, moved up to 9th place, pushing KT (8 wins, 17 losses, 2 draws, .320), who lost three consecutive games, by the difference in win rate without a ride. After falling to 10th place on the 21st of last month, he finished last in 16 days.