From the beginning, 'Ryukry' and 'ERA 11.32' unstable Hanwha bullpen... Moon Dong-ju's ability to digest innings is key

*This content was translated by AI.

It's not just the departure of the league's strongest one-two punch Cody Ponce (Toronto Blue Jays) and Ryan Weiss (Houston Astros). The ups and downs of the Hanwha Eagles bullpen, which boasted the strongest mound last year, are serious.

Hanwha lost 11-14 due to bullpen difficulties despite starting pitcher Ryu Hyun-jin's good pitching of two runs (one earned) in five innings at the home game of the 2026 Shinhan SOL KBO League against KT Wiz at Hanwha Life Ball Park in Daejeon on the 1st.

He won two consecutive games in the opening series, but since then, the bullpen has been shaken greatly and has lost two games.

The imbalance in Tuta is serious. In four games, the team's batting average was 0.329 with six home runs and 35 runs. This means that he lost two games even though he averaged more than eight points per game. Although it ranks second after KT in both team batting average and scoring, the problem is that the team's ERA is at the bottom, falling to 8.29.

Last year, Hanwha's mound was the biggest driving force for the Korean Series in 19 years. Team ERA was only 3.55. Although strong starters including Ponce and Weiss, Ryu Hyun-jin and Moon Dong-joo were strong, the bullpen was also the second strongest after SSG (3.36) with ERA 3.63.

Things have changed this season. The team's batting average (0.266), which was fourth last year, jumped to second place, but the mound collapsed disastrously. While the rotation has not been completed yet, the starting ERA was 4.67, which was disappointing compared to last year, but the bigger problem is the bullpen. It is a serious situation with ERA 11.32.

The game on the 1st was a game where you can feel the strength of Hanwha's weakened bullpen. Ryu Hyun-jin stepped down with a 3-2 lead and scored one more point in the sixth inning to widen the gap to 4-2, but the bullpen collapsed from the seventh inning.

Park Sang-won, who took the mound with two outs in the top of the sixth inning, took the mound in the seventh inning and allowed two hits and one walk before stepping down, but Jung Woo-joo, who took over the ball, was withdrawn after failing to catch any outcounts and recording two hits and one walk. Yoon San-heum put out the urgent fire, but Kim Seo-hyun, who took the mound in the eighth inning following one run and Kang Kyung-woo (0 innings, one run), also lost the out count and lost three runs and shook his head.

The lineup exploded six runs, including Shim Woo-joon's three-run home run, in the eighth inning, raising expectations for a dramatic come-from-behind victory, but even Kim Do-bin, who took the mound in the ninth inning, gave up three walks and was hit by a sweeping double and suffered a loss.

Cho Dong-wook (2nd ⅔ innings) and Park Jae-kyu (⅓ innings) are the only pitchers who have no runs in the bullpen. Considering that Park Jae-kyu has faced only one batter and generally has very few fire extinguishing innings, you can see how big the bullpen is shaking.

Of course, it is a problem that no starting pitchers have played more than six innings yet, adding to the burden on the bullpen and leading the vicious cycle, but it is painful that Kim Seo-hyun (three runs in one inning in two games) and Jung Woo-joo (three runs in two innings in three games) who should lead the bullpen are not taking the center stage.

The starting pitcher for the KT match on the 2nd is Moon Dong-ju. Since the pre-season injury put a brake on the preparation process, the variable is how long innings he will be able to play. It is expected that Moon Dong-joo will play the longest innings as much as possible to ease the burden on the bullpen.

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*This content was translated by AI.