'Surpassed Ponce-Pedy' Avila's Crazy Pitching Show, SSG Snatches '5th Straight Win', Climbs to 8th Place with Hanwha [Incheon On-Site Review]

*This content was translated by AI.

He clearly demonstrated how much a well-acquired foreign pitcher can transform a team. SSG Landers foreign pitcher Pedro Avila (29) once again led his team to victory with a flawless performance.

On the 10th, at Incheon SSG Landers Field in the 2026 Shinhan SOL KBO League away game against SSG Landers, SSG secured a 4-3 win thanks to Avila's six-inning, one-run outing.

With two consecutive wins and a record of 54 wins, 68 losses, and 5 ties, the ninth-place SSG swapped positions with eighth-place Lotte Giants. Meanwhile, Hanwha, which had been on a five-game winning streak and sat in seventh place, recorded 54 wins, 66 losses, and 3 ties.

SSG lined up its batting order as follows: Jung Jun-jae (second baseman), Park Sung-han (shortstop), Guillermo Heredia (left fielder), Kim Jae-hwan (designated hitter), Jeon Ui-san (first baseman), Choi Ji-hoon (center fielder), Han Yu-seom (right fielder), Lee Ji-young (catcher), and Ahn Jae-yeon (third baseman). Pedro Avila started on the mound.

Hanwha set its starting lineup in this order: Sim Woo-jun (shortstop), Choi In-ho (center fielder), Moon Hyun-bin (left fielder), Kang Baek-ho (designated hitter), Noh Si-hwan (third baseman), Yonatan Peraza (right fielder), Kim Tae-yeon (first baseman), Jang Gyu-hyun (catcher), and Hwang Young-mok (second baseman). The starting pitcher was Park Jun-young (No. 96).

It was a showdown condensed into Hanwha's offense, which scored 58 runs during its five-game winning streak, and Avila's defense, who joined the team in July last year and has been showcasing elite pitching prowess.

Avila had thrown a perfect game through three outs in the third inning until he allowed a walk to Jang Gyu-hyun after an eight-pitch battle. After striking out Hwang Young-mok with a swinging strikeout, he induced a ground ball from Sim Woo-jun toward shortstop, but Park Sung-han failed to field it cleanly, resulting in an infield hit. Although not recorded as an error, it was a disappointing moment, and Avila surrendered the first run after giving up a hit to Choi In-ho.

The lineup immediately responded to the ace's unjustified run. Leadoff batter Lee Ji-young reached base with a hit to left field, and then rookie Ahn Jae-yeon, selected 105th overall in the 11th round of this year's draft, smashed a triple down the right-center gap, instantly resetting the game. It was his first career triple. Following Park Sung-han's ground ball to second base, Lee Ji-young scored from third, taking a 2-1 lead.

Avila struck out Jang Gyu-hyun with two outs and a runner on first in the fourth inning despite a defensive error, then completed his task with perfect pitching in the fifth and sixth innings.

In the bottom of the sixth, Park Sung-han reached base with a hit, followed by Heredia being hit by a pitch and Kim Jae-hwan's single to left field, creating a bases-loaded situation with no outs. Two more runs were added thanks to Choi Ji-hoon's RBI single and Han Yu-seom's sacrifice fly.

Hanwha also mounted a comeback. After Avila was pulled in the top of the seventh, Hanwha's offense gained momentum. Peraza hit a double off Moon Seung-won, and Kim Tae-yeon cleared the left-field fence, narrowing the gap to 3-4. However, with one out and a runner on second, Kim Min induced Sim Woo-jun into a ground ball to second base and struck out Choi In-ho, escaping the danger.

Lee Geon-wook held the line cleanly in the eighth inning, and closer Jo Byung-hyun entered in the ninth, retiring all three batters cleanly to achieve 20 saves for two consecutive seasons. Avila earned his sixth win of the season.

Avila's ERA rose slightly from 1.40 to 1.41, but he has etched a meaningful page in KBO League history. The only starting pitcher in KBO League history to record a lower ERA than Avila over their first 10 starts since debuting is Nelson Cruz of SK Wyverns (the predecessor of SSG), who posted 1.35 in 2005. Eric Pedy (formerly of NC), regarded as one of the greatest foreign pitchers and now in Major League Baseball (MLB), recorded 1.47; Cody Ponce (formerly of Hanwha) posted 1.48; and James Neill, who plays for KIA, recorded 1.65.

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*This content was translated by AI.