Although they have achieved the sole first place, they are still hungry. Hanwha, led by the '7.8 billion won submarine' Eom Sang-baek, is attempting to achieve a 10-game winning streak for the first time in 26 years.
The Hanwha Eagles are preparing for their fourth season clash against the Kiwoom Heroes in the 2025 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League, which will be held at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on the 9th. This is the first game of a weekend three-game series.
Hanwha had a record of 24 wins and 13 losses, sitting at first place, while Kiwoom is at 13 wins and 27 losses, ranking in 10th place. It is a matchup between the first and last place teams. The gap between the two teams is 12.5 games.
This is a game that draws attention to Hanwha’s winning streak record. On the 7th, Hanwha achieved a victory against the Daejeon Samsung Lions with a score of 10-6, propelling themselves to the sole first place and running a remarkable 9-game winning streak for the first time in 20 years since June 2005. They staged a miracle, climbing from 10th to 1st place in about a month with a terrifying trend of 3 wins - 1 loss - 8 wins - 2 losses - 9 wins since the game against the Doosan Bears on the 9th of last month.
Hanwha aims for a 10-game winning streak for the first time in about 26 years since October 1999. That year was when Hanwha won its first and last Korean Series championship, achieving a 10-game winning streak from September 24 to October 5, 1999, against the Hyundai Unicorns and Samsung.
To recreate the glory of 26 years ago, Hanwha has announced Eom Sang-baek, the FA submarine, as its starter. Eom's season record stands at 6 games with 1 win and 3 losses, and an earned run average of 5.06. His most recent outing on the 2nd against the Gwangju Kia Tigers ended with 5 innings and 2 earned runs, resulting in a no decision. After marking his debut with a victory on April 18 against the Daejeon NC Dinos, he has not achieved consecutive victories in 2 games.
This year against Kiwoom, there is a memory of having lost as the losing pitcher on April 12 in Daejeon, with a poor performance of 3 innings and 3 earned runs. Last year, during his time with the KT Wiz, he was quite strong against Kiwoom, going undefeated in 2 games with a record of 2 wins and an earned run average of 0.87.
In response, Kiwoom has turned to the card of Ha Young-min. Ha Young-min's season record stands at 8 games with 4 wins and 4 losses, and an earned run average of 5.57. In his most recent outing on the 3rd against Suwon KT, he struggled with 4⅓ innings and 8 earned runs, leading to a loss. This will be his first start against Hanwha this year, and he left a record of 2 wins and no losses with an earned run average of 5.32 in 4 games last year.
Meanwhile, in other matches, the starters are predicted as follows: Shin Min-hyuk (NC) vs. Choi Seung-yong (Doosan) in Jamsil, Na Kyun-an (Lotte) vs. Koh Young-pyo (KT) in Suwon, Son Joo-young (LG) vs. Ariel Hurado (Samsung) in Daegu, and Adam Oller (KIA) vs. Drew Anderson (SSG) in Incheon.
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