"I'm sorry I couldn't win for three months." Ryu Hyun-jin, who ended the 89th-day nightmare, said, "I'm sorry; it doesn't matter if the team wins..." He bowed his head even after the victory. [Daejeon Field]

*This content was translated by AI.

"It took too long."

For as many as 10 games, roughly three months passed without a victory. Ryu Hyun-jin (39, Hanwha Eagles), who snapped the nightmare streak, bowed his head.

On the 8th, Ryu Hyun-jin made a start against the Doosan Bears at the Daejeon Hanwha Life Ballpark in a 2026 Shinhan SOL KBO League home game, throwing 79 pitches over six innings to deliver a strong performance with three hits allowed (one home run), one walk, three strikeouts, and one earned run.

With the lineup scoring six runs, Ryu Hyun-jin handed the ball to Park Sang-won at the end of the sixth inning while holding a lead for victory. The game ended in a 6-1 win, giving him his ninth victory (five losses) of the season.

Although Ryu Hyun-jin recorded eight wins and posted an ERA of 2.67 during the first half, performing at his prime level, his winning streak stopped after the June 11 game against KIA (six innings, one earned run). Since then, he has gone winless in 10 games with only three losses. On days when he pitched well, luck didn't follow, and he often gave up runs all at once in a single inning, leading to more earned runs. In the second half alone, his ERA rose to 7.31 as he fell into a slump.

His recent form was not bad. On the 26th against SSG, he recorded five innings with one earned run (unearned), and on the 2nd against KT, he pitched five innings allowing four runs (three earned). It was regrettable that defensive errors piled up, increasing his earned runs, but his pitching was solid.

On this day, he delivered a perfect performance reminiscent of the first half. His maximum pitch count per inning was only 17 pitches. Although his fastball reached a top speed of 146 km/h, he threw 26 of his 37 pitches into the strike zone. He showcased the pinnacle of efficient pitching by mixing his changeup (average 126 km/h), used as the decisive pitch for all strikeouts that day, with 22 pitches; cutter (average 134 km/h) with 15 pitches; curveball (average 114 km/h) with three pitches; and sweeper (average 122 km/h) with two pitches.

At the beginning, it seemed luck wasn't on his side. In the top of the first inning with one out, a shortstop error allowed a runner to reach base. However, he struck out Park Jun-soon with four consecutive changeups and turned Yang Eui-ji into an infield grounder. Ryu Hyun-jin finished the second inning with three up, three down. In the third inning, with two outs and runners on first and second, he faced a crisis but turned Lee Seok-hwan, who replaced Park Jun-soon, into a fly ball to center field.

He retired the side again in order in the fourth inning. In the fifth, despite allowing a hit to the leadoff batter, he ended the inning with a double play and a strikeout. Ryu Hyun-jin gave up a solo home run to Park Ji-hoon in the sixth but cleanly got out the next two batters to finish the sixth inning.

Although his pitch count did not reach 80, Hanwha activated its bullpen. The score margin had widened to five runs, and since he would be available after four days of rest for the game against KIA Tigers on the 13th, they chose not to overwork him. The bullpen also threw scoreless innings, delivering Ryu Hyun-jin a precious victory after as many as 89 days.

Hanwha manager Kim Kyung-moon said, "Ryu Hyun-jin must have gone through a lot of mental strain for such a long time without a win, so I think he finally feels a bit relieved now that he has secured a victory," and added, "I want to praise Ryu Hyun-jin for showing good pitching."

After the game, Ryu Hyun-jin met with reporters and sighed, saying, "It took too long." He added, "There were games after the first half where I pitched well, and there were also games where I gave up many runs consecutively. I think today's good weather gave me a bit more energy."

Despite some bad luck, he seemed like a completely different pitcher compared to the first half. Ryu Hyun-jin also had many concerns. "Rather than saying I studied, it seems that when things went poorly, my patterns were always similar," he said. "The worst thing was giving up runs all at once in a single inning. When things were bad, I often collapsed in one inning, and that continued consecutively. So today, I just changed my thinking a bit, and I think that worked well."

Although the frustration of not winning was great, it was not for personal ambition. Ryu Hyun-jin stated, "I didn't really care about (the 10th-game winless streak). It doesn't matter if the team wins on days when I pitch; only that part bothered me. I haven't thought about personal victories for too long."

With this victory, he narrowed the gap with fifth-place Doosan to eight games, but the possibility of advancing to the postseason remains slim. Therefore, he had nothing to say to fans. Ryu Hyun-jin said, "I'm sorry we couldn't win for three months," and added, "For now, since the trend has changed to winning, I think it would be good to continue like this, and I will prepare well."

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*This content was translated by AI.