On the 3rd, the 5th game of the season between Doosan and Hanwha of the ‘2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League’ was held at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul. Both team commanders looked back on the previous day’s game and emphasized the need to reduce mistakes.
Doosan coach Lee Seung-yeop showed a satisfied expression about the situation in which he made a good save with 12 wins and 11 losses in April, saying, “I finished April with +1 win and played the first game in May well.” Doosan performed well even in the absence of second starter Dylan Pyle’s injury, and won with Raul Alcantara’s reverse fight the day before and ran 13-11 and finished in 4th place.
Even after Dylan’s return, coach Lee said, “It’s not time for an all-out war in the remaining games,” and “we have to solve it as it is.” He went on to stress, “Yesterday, I had a runner and a stolen runner, and one error each, and I need to cut down on such minor mistakes.” Until the day before, Doosan had 26 errors in 25 games, followed by LG (34) and NC (31, 27 or more games).
The same goes for Hanwha coach Carlos Subero. Regarding the defeat the previous day, Coach Subero said, “The content of the game was good, though.”
Hanwha fell into a 6-game losing streak with a 0-3 complete loss despite a good pitching by starter Jang Min-jae the previous day with 1 run in 5⅔ innings. Coach Subero said, “The process is important,” and emphasized, “Hanwha is used to losing now, but if good processes come out, it will be in a higher position than last year.”
Indeed, as the two coaches said, the match on this day was decided by mistakes. Doosan laughed at the opponent’s mistake first, but Hanwha also overturned the match due to the opponent’s mistake in the second half of the game.
Doosan scored the first run at the end of the second inning. In the 1st and 2nd bases with 1 company made with 2 walks, Jang Seung-hyun hit a strong ball toward the 3rd base. Hanwha third baseman Roh Si-hwan missed this, and second base runner Jose Rojas stepped home.
Hanwha seldom seized the opportunity. In the top of the 4th inning, with one out and bases full, Noh Soo-gwang double-played in front of the pitcher, and in the top of the 6th inning, with 1 out and 1st and 2nd base, Moon Hyun-bin’s double크크크벳 hit by the second baseman lowered his head.
However, the atmosphere changed due to the opponent’s defensive mistake. In the beginning of the 7th inning, Hanwha Oh Seon-jin and Noh Soo-gwang successively made the first and second bases safe and sound with mishit hits that slightly exceeded the height of the second baseman. Then Eun-won Jeong tied the score with a right-handed timely hit in the first company.
Doosan tried to put out the fire by putting out the victory card Jeong Cheol-won. However, Jeong Cheol-won’s 2nd forkball from 1st, 1st and 3rd base bounced and led to a wild throw, allowing a turnaround. Jeong Cheol-won, who was shaken, was hit by Noh Si-hwan at the 1st and 3rd base and was beaten.
The faltering Doosan defense continued to make mistakes, and it became the reason for a large number of goals. When Noh Si-hwan stole base, second baseman Lee Yu-chan made a catch error. Choi Jae-hoon’s timely hit and Moon Hyun-bin’s 2 RBI double hit in the following two outs, 1st and 2nd base, and Doosan collapsed. Hanwha took the win by scoring a whopping 8 points in just the 7th inning.
Hanwha won 8-3, ending their six-game losing streak. Starter Kim Min-woo won his first win (two losses) of the season with a free throw in 6 innings, 6 strikeouts, 4 walks, and 1 run.
Jeong Eun-won led the attack with 3 hits, 1 RBI and 1 run. Noh Si-hwan, Choi Jae-hoon, Oh Seon-jin, and Noh Su-gwang helped with multi-hits.
Doosan took a 1-0 lead until the 6th inning, but collapsed in the 7th due to an error, and the 3rd consecutive victory was canceled. It was regrettable that the batting line suffered from an empty ball with one hit until the 8th inning that day. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Song Seung-hwan’s RBI triple and Heo Kyung-min’s sacrifice hit made up only two runs.