Hanwha Eagles, a professional baseball team, revived their hopes for the 5th round thanks to the performances of Moon Dong-ju, Moon Hyun-bin and Do Moon. Manager Kim Kyung-moon’s faith worked properly.
Hanwha, led by head coach Kim Kyung-moon, won the home game against the Doosan Bears in the 2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League at Hanwha Life Eagles Park in Daejeon on the 3rd with a 7-1 come-from-behind victory.
Starting pitcher Moon Dong-ju silenced Doosan’s batters by allowing four hits, one walk, eight strikeouts and one run in six innings by throwing the fastest 160.1 kilometer per hour on the trackman basis. Prior to taking the mound on the day, he became a losing pitcher in all three games against Doosan this year, and suffered a rough hit with an earned run average of 18.56, but managed to avenge his performance by throwing a perfect pitch on the day. He could have used Ryan Weiss a day earlier, but his trust in manager Kim Kyung-moon shone through.
He gave up one run on consecutive missed hits in the top of the fifth inning, but remained close to perfection in the rest of the inning. Kim Jae-hwan, who had three home runs against Moon Dong-ju this year, also had no hit in three times at bat, including two strikeouts. He pitched 84 pitches. He threw sliders (19), curves, and folk balls (12 pitches), including 41 fastballs with a maximum speed of 160 kilometers per hour and an average of 154 kilometers per hour per track man.
In the top of the second inning, Kang Seung-ho’s fourth pitch, which he threw at the top of the fourth pitch, recorded the maximum speed of 160.1 kilometers per hour. Four of his eight strikeouts were folk balls, which enabled him to effectively deal with left-handed hitters. Jung Soo-bin was fooled twice by Moon Dong-ju’s folk ball and struck out swinging. Moon Dong-ju, who garnered his seventh win (seven losses) this season, also lowered his ERA from 5.38 to 5.17.
Another Moon and Moon Hyun-bin shone in the batting lineup. Moon Hyun-bin, who started as the first batter in 149 days since the match against Kiwoom in Gocheok on April 7, has made three hits, three RBIs and two runs in five at-bats, including a three-run home run in the come-from-behind final. Manager Kim Kyung-moon’s sense of boldly writing Moon Hyun-bin as the first player, who had been showing good batting performance with a batting average of .400 (6 hits in 15 at-bats) and six RBIs in the last 10 games, hit the mark.
Moon, who had a heavy hit at his second at-bat in the bottom of the third inning, hit a 135-km slider outside the first pitch by Doosan starter Choi Won-joon in the bottom of the fifth inning with one out and runners on the second and third bases when his team was losing 0-1. With a driving distance of 120 meters, his fifth homer of the season. It was his first homer in 107 days since the game against Samsung in Daegu on May 19. He also hit a superior double to Kim Kang-ryul in the bottom of the seventh inning, continuing his batting performance.
Hanwha, ranking sixth, which has lost momentum due to its recent two consecutive losses, marked 58 wins, 63 losses and 2 draws (winning rate of .479), and trailed fifth-ranked KT (62-63 losses, 2 draws and 496 wins), which had no match on the day. As the gap with fourth-ranked Doosan (64 wins, 64 losses and 2 draws) narrowed to 2.5 games, the team plunged into chaos due to a five-way race.
After the game, head coach Kim Kyung-moon praised Moon Dong-ju, saying, “He was able to come from behind to win by blocking six innings with the least number of runs. Moon Dong-ju is a great help to the team with his really good pitching in the second half of the year,” and added, “In the batting line, Moon Hyun-bin turned the game around with a long shot at the time he needed it. Noh Si-hwan and Chae Eun-seong also added weight to the batters, helping the team win.” 토토사이트
Noh Si-hwan also had three hits, two RBIs, one walk and four outs in three times at bat, including a wedge-shaped two-run triple, in the bottom of the seventh inning. Chae Eun-seong also hit his 18th homer of this season in the bottom of the sixth inning, bringing the team’s victory to Hanwha.
Coach Kim Kyung-moon then thanked the fans, saying, “Many fans came to the stadium today, and I’m happy to repay them with victory. We will do our best until the end of the rest of the season.”
As of 5:48 p.m. on the day, all seats (12,000) at Hanwha Life Eagles Park were sold out. It was Samsung’s 43rd time in this season. It has increased the number of home games played in a single season in the Korean pro baseball league since it recorded 36 times in 1995. Of the 64 home games this year, 43 are fully booked, accounting for 67.2 percent of the total. Daejeon fans are enthusiastic about Hanwha throughout the season as the average number of spectators is 11,288, accounting for 95.9 percent of the seats.
The Hanwha Eagles will move to Gwangju on Monday to hold two consecutive away matches against the Kia Tigers, the No. 1 team. Weiss, who has been pitching ace pitchers recently, will make his first appearance at the match on Tuesday. Right-hander Kim Do-hyun will make his first appearance at Kia.
