'RYU Class is Eternal' Finally Takes Sole Lead in Wins! Hanwha Regains 4th Place with '6 Innings, 1 Run' Perfect Pitching Against KIA, Ending the Winning Series [Daejeon On-Site Review]

*This content was translated by AI.

The Hanwha Eagles, led by the stellar performance of Ryu Hyun-jin, 'a living legend of Korean baseball,' defeated the KIA Tigers to conclude the winning series.

On the 11th, Hanwha secured a 5-1 victory over KIA in a 2026 Shinhan SOL KBO League regular-season home game held at Daejeon Hanwha Life Volleyball Park.

With this win, Hanwha improved to 32 wins, 1 tie, and 28 losses, closing the gap with KIA to '0'. KIA recorded 33 wins, 1 tie, and 29 losses. Hanwha reclaimed 4th place by holding a higher winning percentage, while KIA dropped to 5th.

Hanwha had lost the first game of the midweek three-game series against KIA on the 9th with a 4-6 score. However, after winning the previous day (10th) 4-3 by a single run, they extended their winning streak to two games with today's victory. Hanwha will now move to Gocheok to face the Kiwoom Heroes, while KIA will relocate to Gwangju to play the Doosan Bears, each team completing their weekend three-game series schedule.

For today's game, Hanwha set its starting lineup in the following order: O Jae-won (center fielder), Peraza (right fielder), Moon Hyun-bin (left fielder), Kang Baek-ho (designated hitter), Noh Si-hwan (third baseman), Kim Tae-yeon (first baseman), Lee Do-yoon (second baseman), Choi Jae-hoon (catcher), and Sim Woo-jun (shortstop). Ryu Hyun-jin was the starting pitcher.

In response, KIA arranged its starting lineup as follows: Park Jae-hyun (left fielder), Kim Sun-bin (second baseman), Kim Do-young (designated hitter), Na Sung-beom (right fielder), Adellin (first baseman), Han Jun-su (catcher), Byun Woo-hyeok (third baseman), Park Min (shortstop), and Kim Ho-ryeong (center fielder). Adam Oller was the starting pitcher.

Both teams engaged in a tight battle, exchanging one run each from the first inning. In the top of the first, with two outs, Kim Do-young of KIA hit an infield single to the third baseman and advanced to second base on Na Sung-beom's hit to left-center. With two outs and runners on first and second, Adellin hit a two-run double that dropped just inside the left-field line.

In response, Hanwha's leadoff batter O Jae-won reached base on a straight walk, then advanced to second base on Peraza's infield single to the third baseman. On Moon Hyun-bin's infield grounder to first base, the runners on first and second advanced further, and O Jae-won, the runner on third, scored on Kang Baek-ho's bunt hit to the pitcher. The score was tied 1-1.

The tight balance was broken in the fourth inning. Leadoff batter Kang Baek-ho reached base on a hit-by-pitch. Following batter Noh Si-hwan then hit a hit to center field, creating a bases-empty opportunity with runners on first and second. On Kim Tae-yeon's sacrifice bunt, the bases were loaded with one out, and Lee Do-yoon hit a two-run single to left-center, taking the lead 2-1. Hanwha added another run when Choi Jae-hoon successfully executed a double steal. Choi Jae-hoon then hit a two-run single to right field, bringing Lee Do-yoon home from second base, extending the lead to 4-1. Ultimately, Hanwha added one more run on Lee Do-yoon's two-run single in the eighth inning, winning 5-1.

Ryu Hyun-jin pitched 6 innings (83 pitches total), allowing 7 hits, striking out 5, walking 1, and giving up 1 earned run, securing his 8th win (2 losses) of the season. He now sits alone at the top of the wins leaderboard. Park Sang-won, Lee Sang-gyu, and Lee Min-woo each pitched one scoreless inning. In contrast, Oller took the loss after pitching 6 innings (104 pitches total), allowing 4 hits, walking 4, striking out 4, and giving up 4 earned runs. This was Oller's 5th loss (7 wins) of the season.

<© STARNEWS. All rights reserved. No reproduction or redistribution allowed.>

*This content was translated by AI.