Professional baseball team Hanwha Eagles achieved their second consecutive winning series thanks to Moon Dong-joo's first win of the season.
Hanwha won 7-1 against the Kiwoom Heroes in a home game played at Hanwha Life Eagles Park in Daejeon on the 13th. The team harmonized in both pitching and hitting in front of 17,000 fans, the fifth time this season they have reached such attendance.
Starting pitcher Moon Dong-joo marked his first win in his fourth appearance of the season with six innings, allowing two hits, no walks, striking out six, and giving up one earned run (unearned) in a quality start. Lee Won-seok, who started as the first batter for the first time this season, contributed significantly with three at-bats, two hits, one RBI, one walk, and one stolen base. YIDO, who made a rare start as a shortstop, raised his performance by driving in three runs with a walk and a two-RBI double. Captain Chae Eun-sung also made a comeback with his first three hits of the season, while Kim Tae-yeon exploded with four hits.
After winning two out of three games against Doosan during the week and then Kiwoom over the weekend, Hanwha marked an 8-11 record. Kiwoom stands at 7-12.
Moon Dong-joo's performance shone brightly. After giving up a right-field hit to Song Seong-moon in the first inning, he allowed the first run in a crucial moment with two outs and runners on second and third when he conceded a timely hit to Choi Joo-hwan. He threw 26 pitches in the first inning, exhausting himself, but regained his composure in the second with just six pitches to retire the side.
In the third inning, he allowed leadoff hitter Kim Tae-jin to reach base on an infield single after an eight-pitch battle, but struck out Song Seong-moon with three fastballs. He then caught Yaisiel Puig looking for a strikeout with a sharply rising forkball. Moon Dong-joo also induced a ground ball from Park Joo-hong to end the inning and retired the side in the fourth with just seven pitches. Jeon Tae-hyun succumbed to Moon Dong-joo's forkball, swinging and missing for a third strike out.
In the fifth and sixth innings, he added one strikeout each while achieving consecutive three-up, three-down innings. In the fifth, Lee Dong-wook struck out swinging with a low slider, and in the sixth, Park Joo-hong also fell to a low outside fastball for a swinging strikeout. He completed his starting duty with a quality start for the first six innings of the season, throwing 81 pitches, with a maximum speed of 153 km/h, averaging 149 km/h. He threw 32 fastballs, in addition to 23 forkballs, 12 curves, 11 sliders, and three two-seam fastballs.
Hanwha's batting lineup also supported Moon Dong-joo. Against Kiwoom's starter Jo Young-gun, they capitalized in the bottom of the second when Chae Eun-sung hit a single up the middle, followed by Hwang Young-mook's double to the left, and a walk to Choi Jae-hoon that loaded the bases with one out. YIDO then drew a walk that led to an equal score at 1-1. Lee Won-seok followed by hitting a timely single up the middle on the fifth pitch of the new pitcher Kim Sun-ki's low outside slider, which resulted in the go-ahead run and marked the first hit of the season for Lee Won-seok, who had gone 13 at-bats without a hit.
In the bottom of the third, Hanwha added another run when Kim Tae-yeon hit a single up the middle, followed by Chae Eun-sung's right-field single and Hwang Young-mook's walk, which loaded the bases with one out again, leading to a walk from Choi Jae-hoon. In the fifth, from a left-field single by Kim Tae-yeon and a left-center hit by Hwang Young-mook, combined with a wild pitch from opposing pitcher Park Joo-sung, they created a situation with two outs and runners on second and third. YIDO took advantage of the low inside two-seam on the fourth pitch and slashed a two-RBI double into right-center, extending the lead to 5-0.
In the bottom of the sixth, Hanwha added another run with a right-field double from Esteban Florial and a timely single to left by Noh Si-hwan. Following Kim Tae-yeon's right-field single, they had runners on first and second with one out, when Chae Eun-sung delivered a one-RBI single up the middle, widening the score to 7-1. Chae Eun-sung and Kim Tae-yeon each swung their bats for three to four hits, while Lee Won-seok, starting as the first batter for the first time this season, played a significant role with two hits, one RBI, one walk, and one stolen base in three at-bats. The ninth batter and shortstop YIDO also made his presence felt with one hit, three RBIs, and one walk in three at-bats. Florial also erupted for three hits, extending his hitting streak to six games.
Hanwha's bullpen also maintained the lead. In the top of the seventh, Park Sang-won came in with one out and runners on first and second, and faced Kim Keon-hee, who hit an infield single to third, putting the team in a bases-loaded crisis. However, he struck out Lee Dong-wook and Kim Woong-bin in succession to quell Kiwoom's rallying hopes. Han Seung-hyuk in the eighth and Kim Seo-hyun in the ninth each pitched one scoreless inning to close out the game.
Kiwoom's starter Jo Young-gun was pulled early after recording 1⅓ innings, allowing two hits, three walks, one strikeout, and giving up two earned runs, suffering his first loss of the season. Foreign hitter Puig went silent with no hits in four at-bats while striking out once.
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