Hanwha Eagles pitcher Moon Dong-ju was pulled from his first start of the season after being required to pitch a winning game.
Moon took the mound against the SSG Landers at SSG Landers Field in Incheon on April 28. Using a fastball that topped out at 158 kilometers and a curveball with a big drop, he allowed two runs on six hits with two walks and five strikeouts in five innings. He turned the ball over to the bullpen in the sixth inning with an 8-2 lead.
SSG’s starting lineup against Hanwha will be Choi Ji-hoon (center field), Park Sung-sung (shortstop), Choi Jung (third base), Han Yoo-seom (right field), Ha Jae-hoon (left field), Koh Myung-joon (designated hitter), Kim Sung-hyun (second base), Jeon Eui-san (first base), and Lee Ji-young (catcher).
Before the game, Hanwha manager Choi Won-ho said of Moon, “I’m planning to throw about 85 pitches today. If he doesn’t make it past the fifth inning and reaches 85 pitches, I think he’ll be in trouble.”
In the first inning, he gave up a single to top hitter Choi Ji-hoon.
He struck out Park Sung-hwan on a 121-kilometer curveball for the first out. Allowed Choi to steal second base. With runners on first and second, Choi grounded out to third and Han Yoo-seom grounded out to second to end the inning.
The second inning went well. He hit a 149-kilometer fastball to leadoff hitter Ha Jae-hoon for a double to right-center field. He then walked Go Myung-joon to load the bases. 안전놀이터 추천 Runners on first and second with no outs.
Kim Sung-hyun sets up for a bunt and throws a 148-kilometer high fastball. Kim’s bunt was strong, and the ball sailed slightly toward the third baseman. Third baseman Noh Si-hwan caught it on the ground and threw to second for the out, and the shortstop threw back to first for the out. With the bases loaded, Moon struck out Jeon Ui-san with a 158-kilometer fastball to end the inning.
In the top of the third inning, Noh Si-hwan hit a two-run home run to make it 2-0. In the bottom of the third, Moon got leadoff hitter Lee Ji-young to ground out to third base and Choi Ji-hoon to ground out to second base with two outs. Park Sung-sung singled to left, but Choi flied out to right to keep the inning scoreless.
In the fourth inning,
Han struck out Yoo-seom Han with a 153-kilometer fastball and Ha struck out Jae-hoon Ha with a 139-kilometer slider. He threw a slider to Go Myung-joon for a single to left, but got Kim Sung-hyun to pop out to third base on a 148-kilometer fastball to end the inning. He threw 57 pitches through four innings.
Hanwha scored five runs in the top of the fifth inning on a bases-loaded walk to Moon Hyun-bin, a bases-clearing triple by Lim Jong-chan and a sacrifice fly by Choi Jae-hoon to make it 7-0.
In the bottom of the fifth, Moon Dong-joo got Jeon Eui-san to fly out to left field with one out and gave up a single to Lee Ji-young that slipped by the first baseman. Choi Ji-hoon walked to load the bases. Park Sung-sung grounded out to the first baseman, putting runners at second and third.
Choi Jung gave up a single to center field that sailed past the pitcher. Both runners came home to make the score 7-2. With the bases loaded, Han struck out Yu-seom Han on a 153-kilometer high fastball to earn the win.
