The professional baseball LG Twins will face off against the Hanwha Eagles on the 29th at Jamsil Stadium. The previous day, LG lost 5-6 after an 11-inning contest.

Youm Kyoung-youb, the manager, said during a press interview on the 29th at Jamsil Stadium, “I thought we could beat Ponce, but it didn’t happen,” and added, “The moment a lucky hit came, I thought we had it,” with a wry smile.

LG was trailing 2-4 when, in the 7th inning with 2 outs and runners on 2nd and 3rd, Park Hae-min's unexpected hit dropped between the left fielder, third baseman, and shortstop, making it a timely hit and tying the game at 4-4. Hanwha's starting pitcher Ponce recorded 7 innings with 6 hits allowed (2 home runs), 1 walk, 8 strikeouts, and 4 earned runs with no decision.

Manager Youm said, “The moment we tied it at 4-4, the momentum was definitely on our side. We kept getting chances to win, and I didn’t think we would lose even after the 11th inning. Using Myeong-geun, I was thinking of at least a draw or a win.” He used all of the two reliable pitchers, Kim Jin-sung and Park Myeong-geun, in the extra innings.

Manager Youm said, “But there is an overall luck from the heavens. When Myeong-geun’s curve didn’t go for a strike, it became 3 balls and 1 strike. Thinking about not sending him to second base made it a bad pitch. Just because a bad pitch comes, does everyone hit it? Chae Eun-seong hit it well.”

Ponce, with a 1.94 earned run average, allowed 4 earned runs, which is his highest number of runs allowed in his career. He has allowed this twice this year. On April 9 against Doosan, he had 6 innings with 4 earned runs (win), and on the 28th, he recorded 4 earned runs against LG in 7 innings.

However, Manager Youm explained, “Ponce was better yesterday. When I watched other teams' games, his curve strike rate was very low. But yesterday, his curve strike rate was almost over 80%. I thought it was harder because when he threw, it was a strike.”

Ponce threw 46 fastballs, 24 curves, 15 sliders, and 11 changeups. He threw more curves than his main weapon, the changeup.

Manager Youm noted, “(The home runs) Hyun-soo hit those that were along the line well, and the one from Young-bin was a mistake pitch of the changeup that got lucky. Overall, it was much more difficult to hit yesterday. I thought if Ponce continued, scoring additional runs wouldn’t be easy. When Hae-min’s lucky hit came out, the momentum completely changed.”

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