Hanwha Baseball, which gives 8 points and 9 points, also overshadowed the strengthening of its batters... 'Phone-wah breakaway → ERA 9.00' What should I do with the mound

*This content was translated by AI.

His team batting average reached .318, and he scored 43 points in five games. The Hanwha Eagles are second in both batting average and scoring, but they have more losses than wins. That's because they're giving away that many points.

Hanwha lost 8-13 in the 2026 Shinhan SOL KBO League home game against KT Wiz at Hanwha Life Ball Park in Daejeon on the 2nd.

Hanwha, which had won two consecutive games since the opening, lost the series to KT, a five-game winning team, and recorded two wins and three losses, falling to a tie for fifth place.

Anyone could expect that Cody Ponce (Toronto) and Ryan Weiss (Houston), who led Hanwha last year, would advance to the Major League side by side, weakening the power of the mound. In addition, internal free agent (FA) Kim Bum-soo (KIA) and Lee Tae-yang left for the second draft.

Instead, he strengthened the lineup by recruiting free agent Kang Baek-ho for four years and 10 billion won, but even gave up another bullpen resource Han Seung-hyuk as a reward player.

Hanwha manager Kim Kyung-moon stressed ahead of the opening game, "Batters should work hard in the beginning until the pitchers are more stable," but the batting lineup is exploding every game even though No. 4 hitter Noh Si-hwan is suffering from severe ups and downs.

The problem is that it gives you more points. It boasts explosive firepower with an average of 8.6 points in five games, but it is not easy to beat as the pitching staff has 49 runs (47 earned runs) and 9.8 runs on average.

Moon Dong-ju, who started the game on the same day, stopped well until the second inning with a maximum speed of 155km/h, but Molly got a hit by the leadoff hitter Lee Kang-min with a slider in the third inning and allowed Choi Won-joon to walk. He threw a fastball to Ahn Hyun-min, but he was hit with an RBI timely hit and allowed a straight walk to Sam Hilliard.

Two walks eventually resulted in fatalities. He was hit by a high ball thrown to Jang Sung-woo and led to a grand slam. Even though he had two hits in the fourth inning, he blocked them without losing a point, but the score gap had already widened.

Even after that, the bullpen gave up eight more runs. It was even more regrettable that the lineup, which was supported by the home fans' support at the bottom of the eighth inning when the loss was thick with 2-13, pulled the reins of the chase by scoring six points, including Moon Hyun-bin's three-run home run.

In the top of the seventh inning, when the bullpen was leading 4-2 in the game on the 1st, it gave up four runs and five more runs in the eighth inning. Shim Woo-joon's three-run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning scored six runs to tie the score at 11-11, but he had to concede three runs and lower his head in the top of the ninth inning.

It is certain that the weight of the starting lineup has become lighter. Wang Yancheng (5 ⅓ innings) and Ryu Hyun-jin (5 innings) were the only ones in charge of five or more innings in five games. Wilkel Hernandez allowed four runs and was substituted with one out count left until the fifth inning, while Owen White was injured while defending in the third inning, raising concerns. Moon Dong-ju, who returned from injury, also did not perform 100% properly.

As the starter's innings decreased, the burden on the bullpen also increased. Amid a series of departures by must-win teams, key resources Jung Woo-joo and Kim Seo-hyun were sluggish and their dependence on the bullpen has grown, leading to a vicious cycle. Hanwha has the lowest bullpen ERA (ERA) of 11.57.

It maintains the strength of the batters, but more importantly, the pitching staff should hold out better. Of course, it would be great if it was as easy as it sounds. Rather, White's hamstring muscle rupture has forced him to find a temporary replacement. Even Um Sang-baek showed pain in his right elbow. Hanwha is facing growing difficulties from the beginning of the season due to the overlapping bad news.

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*This content was translated by AI.