Lee Jung-hoo-Il-Hyung-jong 8th inning shutout, Sagu wins over Kiwoom…bullpen collapses, Hanwha blows chance to tie game

Kiwoom came back to beat Hanwha in a close game. With two outs in the eighth inning, Lee Jung-hoo and Lee Hyung-jong hit back-to-back singles to tie the game and take the lead.

Kiwoom won the away game against Hanwha 9-6 in the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League at Hanwha Life Eagles Park in Daejeon on Sunday. After taking a 4-0 lead and falling behind 5-6, Lee Jung-hoo and Lee Hyung-jong hit back-to-back pinch-hit doubles in the top of the eighth inning, followed by Lee Won-seok’s wedge double, to seal the win with a four-run big inning.

Seventh-ranked Kiwoom is now 28-35-2, while 10th-ranked Hanwha, which had its two-game winning streak snapped, is 23-35-4.

It was all Kiwoom until the middle of the game. In the third inning against Han Seung-hyuk, Lim Ji-yeol singled to right-center and Kim Jun-wan singled to right to put runners on first and third, and Lee Jung-hoo grounded out to second, allowing Lim to score from third to take the lead.

After Hanwha blew a bases-loaded opportunity in the third, Kiwoom answered with two runs in the top of the fourth. Two batters after Lee Ji-young doubled down the left field line off Han Seung-hyuk, Hanwha reliever Kim Jae-young blasted a two-run home run. On a two-strike unfavorable count, she took a three-pitch low curveball from Kim Jae-young and sent it over the left field fence. It traveled 120 meters and was his fourth two-run home run of the season. In the fifth inning, Song Sung-moon scored on a wild pitch with two outs to make it 4-0.

However, Hanwha answered with a run in the fifth inning. Park Sang-un singled and Jung Eun-won walked to put runners on second and third, and Noh Si-hwan blasted a three-run homer to left field. He took the second pitch from reliever Ha Young-min’s 139-kilometer slider up the middle and smashed it over the left field fence. It traveled 120 meters and was his 11th home run of the season. It cut the deficit to one run.

Hanwha’s rally was halted in the sixth inning when Park Sang-un singled with the bases loaded and Lee Jin-young was thrown out at third base. In the seventh, Lee Won-seok’s sacrifice fly brought Kiwoom back to within one, but Hanwha revived the momentum in the very next at-bat.

A wild pitch by Kiwoom’s Kim Seung-jo led to back-to-back singles by Jung Eun-won and Kim Tae-yeon to load the bases. Noh Si-hwan singled up the middle, followed by Chae Eun-sung’s single to left-center to tie the game at 5-5. With runners on first and third, Moon Hyun-bin hit a long fly ball to left field to reliever Lee Myung-jong. A sacrifice fly to left field brought home Noh Si-hwan from third base. The score was 6-5.

But the celebration was short-lived. Kiwoom came back with a four-run big inning in the eighth. In the eighth inning, they chased Hanwha reliever Kang Jae-min. Kim Hwijip singled to left and Lim Ji-yeol and Kim Hye-sung walked to load the bases, and Lee Jung-hoo was hit on the side of the head by Kang’s slider after a seven-pitch at-bat. A pushing single tied the game at 6-6. Lee Hyung-jong was then hit on the left leg by a seven-pitch slider from Kang Jae-min, again with a pushing fastball, making it 7-6.

Hanwha switched to closer Park Sang-won, but Lee Won-seok hit a two-run double to left to seal the win. Kiwoom picked up his third and eighth saves of the season after Won Jong-hyun and Lim Chang-min pitched one-hit shutout innings in the eighth and ninth, respectively. Lee Myung-jong, who pitched a scoreless seventh inning, improved to 3-1 on the season. Starter Jang Jae-young also pitched well, tossing 3 1/3 innings of one-hit ball with one walk and four strikeouts. At the plate, Kim Hui-jip had two hits and two RBIs and Lee Won-seok had a sacrifice fly and a wedge hit.토토사이트

Hanwha was led by Noh Si-hwan with three hits and four RBIs and Moon Hyun-bin with two hits and one RBI, but lost the bullpen battle. Kang Jae-min suffered his third loss of the season with four runs in ⅔ innings.Han Seung-hyuk, making his first start of the season, gave up one run on three hits with one walk in three innings.