*This content was translated by AI.
Moon Dong-ju (Hanwha) and Won Tae-in (Samsung) left due to injuries, and Kwak Bin (27, Doosan) was selected as the first starter of the national team. However, he left a task in his first real game as a whole.
Kwak Bin started against the Hanshin Tigers of the Japanese Professional Baseball (NPB) at Kyocera Dome in Osaka, Japan on the 2nd and allowed three hits, one walk, one strikeout, and three runs in two innings.
Kwak Bin is considered one of the top starters in the league for his powerful pitches with fast balls in the mid-150km/h range. In 2024, he tied for the most wins with 15 wins.
However, it is also evaluated that the completeness is still somewhat poor. Although he is said to be weak on the mound compared to what he has, he is expected to take the lead among the first starters in the absence of Won Tae-in and Moon Dong-joo.
Kwak Bin, who started the day, took the mound in the top of the first inning with two runs supported by the batters, handled Nakano Takumu and Cam Devaney with fastballs, and struck out Koji Chikamoto with a swing and miss to delete the first inning.
The problem was the second episode. Yusuke Oyama, the first batter, was grounded out to third base, but allowing Yuko Maegawa to walk became a source of concern. He then got a hit by Hayato Nakagawa and lost a run when Nozomu Takatera hit a fly ball to center field.
Even after that, he could not easily find stability. Onodera Dan and Fushimi Torai gave up two more runs after receiving consecutive doubles.
Eventually, coach Kim Kwang-sam took the mound and calmed Kwak Bin down. Kwak Bin, who finished the second inning by catching Nakano's fly ball to left field well, handed the ball over to the Noh Kyung-eun from the third inning. When Noh Kyung-eun (SSG) took three innings with aggressive pitching, it was more prepared by playing a spectacular pitch to keep it clean with a full offense.
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*This content was translated by AI.
