The Hanwha Eagles of baseball ended the first half on a high note with a thrilling comeback. They even scored three runs on a single squeeze bunt.
The Hanwha Eagles, led by manager Kim Kyung-moon, opened the 2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League with a 13-5 home win over the KT Wiz on Thursday at Hanwha Life Eagles Park in Daejeon.
After falling behind 1-5 in the top of the third inning after starting pitcher Jaime Barria was tagged for five runs on six hits and one walk with four strikeouts in three innings, Hanwha rallied for two runs in the bottom of the third and then turned the game around with a five-run fourth inning.
Kim Kyung-moon’s pitching also shined. Kim Tae-yeon and Choi Jae-hoon singled to put runners on first and third. Here, Kim Kyung-moon took out his starting catcher Choi Jae-hoon and used the speedy Lee Sang-hyuk as a pinch-hitter. He decided it was a game-changer and boldly replaced the starting catcher and pulled out the pinch-hitter card.
Hanwha players responded immediately. Hwang Young-mook led off with a single up the middle to put runners on first and third with one out. Jang Jin-hyuk laid down a squeeze bunt on the first pitch, and Lee Sang-hyuk, the runner at third, quickly raced home to tie the game.
Jang Jin-hyuk’s squeeze bunt caught KT’s defense off guard. Pitcher Kim Min-soo threw to first base, but second baseman Shin Bong-ki, who was covering the 토토 먹튀검증 base, made a bad throw. Even right fielder Jung Jun-young, who backed up a deflected ball that hit Shin’s glove, made two errors.
He fumbled the ball at first, then threw it home, but it was a short, one-bound throw that was difficult for the catcher to catch. Jang didn’t catch it and the ball slipped behind him, bringing home Hwang Young-mook, who was on first base, as well as pinch runner Jang Jin-hyuk, making it 7-5 in no time. A squeeze bunt resulted in three runs.
Hwang Young-mook and Ahn Chi-hong combined for three hits and two RBIs, while Jonathan Peraza had two hits and three RBIs and Jang Jin-hyuk and Kim Tae-yeon each had two hits and one RBI. Second starter Kim Ki-joong pitched two innings of one-hit, one-strikeout ball to earn his fourth win of the season.
With the three-game sweep to end the first half, Hanwha is in ninth place with 36 wins, 44 losses and two ties for a .450 winning percentage. They are 3.5 games behind fifth-place SSG, setting the stage for the second half of the fall baseball season. The team also improved its winning percentage to 5 percent with 12 wins, 12 losses and one tie under new manager Kim Kyung-moon, who took over on March 2.
“I would like to emphasize that we finished the last game of the first half with a victory, and I would like to thank our fans for their great support in the first half,” said manager Kim Kyung-moon after the game. “We will take a short break, but we will make good improvements so that we can show a better game in the second half,” he said.
Hanwha will begin the second half of their schedule on April 9 against Gocheok Kiwoom.