Yoon Young-cheol 2 wins’ Kia defeats Hanwha to extend Pajuk’s winning streak to four games

KIA continued its dominance behind the bat of Choi Hyung-woo, Kim Do-young, Han Jun-soo and Yoon Young-cheol, who pitched a complete game.

Lee Bum-ho’s Kia Tigers defeated Choi Won-ho’s Hanwha Eagles 8-4 on Wednesday at Hanwha Life Eagles Park in Daejeon, South Korea, in the regular season finale of the 2024 KBO Baseball League.

This was Pajuk’s fourth straight win, improving KIA’s record to 12-4. On the other hand, Hanwha, which snapped a five-game losing streak the previous day (Nov. 11) against the Jamsil Doosan Bears (3-0 Hanwha), was unable to continue its good form and lost for the eighth time in nine games.

Along with pitcher Yoon Young-cheol, Kia’s starting lineup was Seo Gun-chang (first base)-Choi Won-joon (center field)-Kim Do-young (third base)-Choi Hyung-woo (designated hitter)-Socrates Brito (left field)-Lee Woo-sung (right field)-Kim Sun-bin (second base)-Han Jun-soo (catcher)-Hong Jong-pyo (shortstop).

Hanwha countered with a batting lineup of Choi In-ho (left fielder), Jonathan Peraza (right fielder), Noh Si-hwan (third baseman), Chae Eun-sung (first baseman), Ahn Chi-hong (designated hitter), Moon Hyun-bin (second baseman), Choi Jae-hoon (catcher), Lee Do-yoon (shortstop), and Lim Jong-chan (center fielder). Felix Peña is the starting pitcher.

It was Hanwa’s turn to take control of the game. In the bottom of the first inning, Peraza hit a grounder to first base and advanced to second on a throwing error by the opposing pitcher. Noh Si-hwan followed with a single up the middle and Chae Eun-sung grounded out to shortstop to put runners on first and third. From there, Ahn Chi-hong hit a hard line drive toward third base that KIA third baseman Kim Do-young was unable to catch, allowing Peraza to cross the plate.

Kia didn’t sit idly by. In the top of the second, leadoff hitter Choi Hyung-woo took Peña’s seven-seam 127-kilometer slider for a solo arch over the right field fence. Choi’s third home run of the season.

With the momentum in their favor, Kia answered back in the top of the third. With the bases loaded, Kim took a two-seam 146-kilometer fastball from Peña and launched a 130-meter solo shot over the left-center field wall. It was Kim’s third home run of the season.

After taking the lead for good, Kia added another run in the top of the fourth inning. With runners on first and second after Lee Woo-sung singled to right and Kim Sun-bin walked, Han Jun-soo hit an RBI single to right.

Hanwha resumed its scoring streak in the bottom of the sixth inning. Noh Si-hwan doubled and Chae Eun-sung walked to put runners on first and second with no outs. Ahn Chi-hong struck out on three pitches, but pinch-hitter Kim Tae-yeon drew a walk to load the bases. Choi Jae-hoon then hit a single to right to bring home Noh Si-hwan, who was pinch-hitting for Ahn. However, in the next at-bat, Lee Do-yoon could only hit a short fly to left field, and Chae Eun-sung, who 먹튀검증 was trying to steal home, was thwarted by an accurate throw from KIA left fielder Socrates.

Kia responded in kind. With one out in the top of the seventh, Seo Gun-chang drew a walk and stole second base. Choi Won-joon then struck out, but Kim Do-young followed with an RBI single to right.

Hanwha gradually grew more urgent, but was unable to capitalize on its chances in the bottom of the seventh. After a leadoff single to left by Lee Jin-young, a grounder to shortstop by Peraza, a force out by Lee, and a wild pitch by the opposing pitcher put runners on second and third, but Noh Si-hwan grounded out to shortstop.

With the bases loaded, Kia went ahead in the top of the eighth on a Socrates walk, a wild pitch, Lee Woo-sung’s single, Kim Sun-bin’s grounder to shortstop, and Han Jun-soo’s RBI double up the middle that put runners on second and third. With the bases loaded, Hong Jong-pyo hit an RBI single to left center to make it 7-2.

Hanwha, which was on fire, pulled within one run in the bottom of the eighth after Hwang Young-mook doubled to right and Ahn Chi-hong singled to left. After a grounder to shortstop by Lee Jae-won put runners on second and third, Lee Do-yoon hit a grounder to second base to bring home Ahn Chi-hong, but that was as close as the game would get, as Kia added one more run in the top of the ninth on a push ball by Hong Jong-pyo.

Kia starter Yoon Young-cheol threw five innings of three-hit, two walks, four strikeouts and one earned run on 77 pitches to improve to 2-0 on the season. He was followed by Jang Hyun-sik (one inning, scoreless), Kyu Do-gyu (one inning, scoreless), Park Jun-pyo (0.1 inning, two runs), Lee Jun-young (0.1 inning, scoreless), and Jung Hae-young (three, 1.1 innings, scoreless), while Kim Do-young (five hits, two doubles, one home run, two RBIs), Choi Hyung-woo (four hits, one double, one home run, one RBI), Han Jun-soo (four hits, two doubles, three RBIs), and Lee Woo-sung (two hits, two RBIs) led the offense with big hits.

Han suffered his second loss of the season (2-2) after allowing three runs on five hits, two home runs, two walks and three strikeouts in four innings. Noh Si-hwan (3-for-5) had a solid game, but was held scoreless in the loss.

Meanwhile, the game was sold out at 5:14 p.m. with all 12,000 seats sold out. With the result, Hanwha has now sold out six consecutive home games in Daejeon, dating back to last month’s 29th game against KT Wiz. If you include the final game against the Lotte Giants on October 16 last year, it was seven consecutive sellouts.

This is the first time the team has sold out seven consecutive home games in Daejeon. There were two previous occasions when the team sold out six consecutive games (April 25-May 5, 2015 and June 8-17, 2018), but never seven in a row. However, nine consecutive sellouts including the Cheongju game (6 games in Daejeon – June 8-17, 2018 + 3 games in Cheongju – June 19-21, 2018) occurred in 2018.

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