Professional baseball player Moon Dong-ju (22) of the Hanwha Eagles allowed six runs in a big inning for the first time in his debut. He was overwhelmed by the lineup of the Lotte Giants, which boasts one of the best offenses in the league.

On the 25th, Moon Dong-ju started against Lotte in Daejeon, collapsing after 4⅔ innings, allowing 7 hits, 3 walks, 5 strikeouts, and 6 runs. Hanwha, after a thrilling 10-inning contest, won against Lotte 8-7, securing the winning series, but it was a day Moon Dong-ju wished to forget.

His 6 runs allowed were the most he has given up in a game this year, causing his season ERA to skyrocket from 2.89 to 3.68. After experiencing a loss with 4 runs allowed in just 2 innings against Lotte on the 2nd of last month, Moon Dong-ju has struggled in two games against Lotte this year (6⅔ innings) with 1 loss and an ERA of 13.50.

Until the 4th inning, he held the powerful Lotte lineup scoreless. After allowing a hit to leadoff hitter Jang Du-seong in the 1st inning, he faced a jam of 1st and 2nd with no outs after giving a straight walk to Go Seung-min, but he found stability after catcher Choi Jae-hun visited the mound. He struck out Víctor Reyes with a forkball, stealing timing, and then got Jeon Jun-woo with a looking strikeout on a forkball high and outside. He induced Yoon Dong-hee into a ground ball to third base with a fastball inside, escaping the 1st and 2nd with no runs given up.

Shortly thereafter, in the 1st inning, the Hanwha lineup supported Moon Dong-ju with 4 runs, starting with a leadoff solo home run by Estevan Florial, followed by a three-run home run by Roh Si-hwan. Fueled by this, Moon Dong-ju easily retired Na Seung-yeop with a fly out to center field, Son Ho-young with a grounder to shortstop, and Yoo Kang-nam with a ground ball to third base, all in just 9 pitches.

In the 3rd inning, leadoff hitter Jeon Min-jae reached base with a single to left field, but Moon Dong-ju induced a 6-4-3 double play with Jang Du-seong grounding out to shortstop. He then retired Go Seung-min by flying out to center field, ending the inning with three batters. In the 4th inning, Moon Dong-ju struck out Reyes and Jeon Jun-woo consecutively with high fastballs and also dealt with Yoon Dong-hee with a fly out to left field, completing another clean inning.

Leading 6-0, it seemed he would secure an easy win, but the Lotte lineup proved to be formidable. The turning point came in the 5th inning after striking out leadoff batter Na Seung-yeop with a forkball. After giving a walk to Son Ho-young following a full count, he gave up an RBI double to Yoo Kang-nam, marking his first run allowed. Yoo Kang-nam did not miss a fastball that came into the strike zone on the fourth pitch. Although Moon Dong-ju retired Jeon Min-jae with a fly out to right field, he then allowed Jang Du-seong an RBI double down the right field line, giving up another run. First baseman Kim In-hwan dove but the ball slipped quickly past him.

Here, Moon Dong-ju's mental state wavered. Pitching coach Yang Sang-moon attempted to halt the momentum on the mound but gave a straight walk to Go Seung-min. In the continued crisis with 1 out and runners on 1st and 2nd, he was hit with an RBI single to right by Reyes, an RBI double to center by Jeon Jun-woo, and an RBI single by Yoon Dong-hee, allowing the game to come to a swift 6-6 tie. As the lineup turned twice and faced him for the third time, the Lotte batters seemed to find the ball familiar, connecting all types of pitches including forkballs, fastballs, and sliders for timely hits.

Ultimately, Moon Dong-ju handed over the mound to Ju Hyun-sang with 2 outs and a runner on 2nd, unable to finish the 5th inning. Ju Hyun-sang managed to retire Na Seung-yeop with a fly out to center field, barely concluding the inning. It was the first time Moon Dong-ju had allowed 6 runs in a single inning since his debut in 2022. While he had permitted 5 runs in both the 3rd inning against SSG on May 13, 2023, and the 1st inning against Doosan on April 10 of last year, he had never given up 6 runs as he did that day.

Throwing a total of 88 pitches, including a top speed of 155 km/h and an average of 149 km/h fastballs (37 pitches), along with sliders (20 pitches), forkballs (17 pitches), and curves (14 pitches), he showcased his repertoire. Perhaps due to the 4-day rest, this game marked the lowest average fastball velocity of the year, and he tied his highest number of walks at 3. Although Moon Dong-ju had developed the endurance to withstand runs, he collapsed entirely before the Lotte lineup that day.

The strength of the Lotte lineup was formidable. In a pitching season where offense is high, it is typical to see teams trailing by 6 runs midway through the game succumb entirely, but Lotte was different. In the 9th inning, trailing 6-7 with 2 outs, Jeon Jun-woo made a dramatic solo home run off Hanwha's closer Han Seung-hyeok to tie the game. Although they faced a walk-off loss after giving a walk to Moon Hyun-bin in the 10th inning, the firepower of the Lotte lineup was more than enough to exhaust Hanwha's pitchers.

As of the 25th, Lotte ranks first in team batting average (.289), 2 points and 3 tenths higher than second-place Samsung (.266), and 3 points and 4 tenths higher than the league average (.255). Their team home run count stands at 32, which is the lowest alongside KT, yet they have many excellent contact hitters. Batters like Jeon Min-jae (.370), Reyes (.317), Jang Du-seong (.317), Go Seung-min (.306), Yoon Dong-hee (.296), and Jeon Jun-woo (.289) often produce solid batting averages. On that day, not only Moon Dong-ju but also Ryu Hyun-jin, who pitched the day before (the 24th), also struggled, allowing 5 hits and 3 runs in just the 2nd and 3rd innings.

In the first game of a three-game series on the 23rd, Hanwha's Ryan Weiss subdued such a Lotte lineup by delivering 8 innings, allowing 2 runs and striking out 11, saying, “I don't think I'm particularly strong against Lotte. I faced a jam with runners on 1st and 2nd in the 1st inning, and I gave up a home run in the 2nd inning. There are many good hitters on Lotte, and they are truly a strong team,” indicating that those words were not merely lip service.

In the game on the 25th, rookie Jeong Woo-joo, who earned a relief win after holding the 10th inning scoreless, also noted, “Lotte has no easy batters in their lineup. Even when watching from the bullpen, it felt terrifying. They are a team that can score 6 runs in one inning, which made me very nervous, so I threw more pitches in the bullpen before entering,” reflecting the fearsome lineup that even Hanwha's pitchers, who rank first in team ERA (3.35), admitted.

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