A strategy came from an unexpected place.
The Hanwha Eagles beat the Kiwoom Heroes 7-1 at Daejeon Hanwha Life Insurance Eagles Park on the 30th in the first game of a three-game series during the week.
On this day, Hanwha formed an unconventional starting lineup in the lower batting line against Kiwoom starting pitcher An Woo-jin. Jang Jin-hyeok (30) was placed as the left fielder for the 7th hitter, Kim Geon (23), who was called up to the first team as the 8th designated hitter, and shortstop Lee Do-yoon (27) as the 9th hitter. All three batters were fielders who did not have much first-team experience, and seemed lacking in strength to face the league’s strongest pitcher, An Woo-jin.
However, Hanwha coach Choi Won-ho had a different idea. Coach Choi said before the game, “Jin-Hyeok Jang has a small sample, but he has shown a good performance against Woo-Jin Ahn. Gun Kim has a good feeling recently in the Futures League, so I put him in the lineup right away,” he explained the background of his selection.
This lineup, which seemed like a reckless challenge, had an accident. All three batters recorded multi-hits and played a big role side by side. Even at the moment when a timely hit was needed, he rewarded coach Choi’s trust by producing an RBI against An Woo-jin.
Hanwha scored 2 points first in the attack at the end of the 2nd inning. Jang Jin-hyeok, who entered the plate from 1 out 1 base, hit Ahn Woo-jin’s 149km fastball on the 3rd pitch and hit it with a double that flowed to the right side of the right fielder. While the defense made mistakes, first base runner Choi Jae-hoon stepped home, and in the continued second-out third base chance, ninth hitter Lee Do-yoon hit a heavy hit and called third base runner Jang Jin-hyeok home.
Hanwha, who allowed a one-run chase in the top of the 6th inning, made a big inning at the end of the 6th inning and put a wedge in the game. Again, at the center of the chance was the bottom line. Inning lead hitter Choi Jae-hoon went on base with 4 balls, and Jang Jin-hyeok and Kim Gun, who entered the at-bat, hit the bases in succession to create a chance to safely load the bases.
Lee Do-yoon withdrew this time with a ground ball to second baseman, but in the ensuing opportunity to load bases, first hitter Moon Hyun-bin scored two RBIs and a right-handed hit at the right time. Afterwards, Hanwha ran away to 7-1 with Chae Eun-seong’s hit ball, Kim In-hwan’s sacrifice fly, and Noh Si-hwan’s one RBI timely hit. After seizing the victory, Lee Tae-yang in the beginning of the 8th inning and Han Seung-joo in the 9th inning were blocked without a run, and the final victory was confirmed 7-1.메이저놀이터
Starting pitcher Ricardo Sanchez won his second win of the season with a good pitching of 6 innings, allowing 1 run and striking out 5. However, the main players who led the victory on this day were definitely the bottom line. Jang Jin-hyeok went 5 at-bats with 2 hits and 2 points, Kim Geon went 4 at-bats with 2 hits and 1 point, and Lee Do-yoon went 4 at-bats with 2 hits, 1 RBI and 1 run.