The professional baseball Hanwha Eagles swept the Doosan Bears for the first time in 19 years, getting close to the fifth round.
Hanwha won the away game against Doosan in the 2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League 3-1 at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul on the 25th.
While starting pitcher Ryu Hyun-jin won his eighth win (seven losses) of the season with five hits (one homer) and four strikeouts and one run in seven innings, Park Sang-won won his second save of the season with two strikeouts and no runs in two innings.
In the batting lineup, Jang Jin-hyuk hit an RBI double in the top of the sixth inning when the score was tied 1-1, and became the winner of the final hit. Along with Jang, Lee Do-yoon played multi-hit with two hits and one RBI from four times at bat.
With the victory, Hanwha has swept three consecutive away games against Doosan from June 23 to 25. It is the first time in 19 years that Hanwha has swept three consecutive games against Doosan since June 4 to 6, 2005. It has been a whopping 7020 days.
At that time, the starters for the three consecutive games were Moon Dong-hwan (three runs and two earned runs in seven ⅓ innings), Jung Min-cheol (six scoreless innings), and Kim Hae-nim (four runs in 5.1 innings). Lee Beom-ho, the current head coach of KIA, played multiple shots from the first day and exploded three home runs in three consecutive games. The lineup, which hit eight home runs during the three consecutive games, hit the Doosan mound, with Kim Tae-kyun, who was permanently absent from Hanwha after retirement, hitting the grand slam on the last day.
The year 2005 was 19 years ago, one year before Ryu made his professional debut. As rookie pitcher Hwang Joon-seo, who joined the team as the No. 1 player this year, was born on Aug. 22, 2005, he had never seen Hanwha sweep the Doosan Bears since his birth. It took a whopping 19 years to see Hanwha sweep the Doosan Bears. Over the course of 19 long years, Doosan swept the Doosan Bears 13 times. The Hanwha Eagles also held the first two games of three consecutive games, but they always lost on the last day.
In the meantime, the two teams were honored and frustrated. During the period, Doosan advanced to the Korean Series 11 times and won three times, while Hanwha was in the last place eight times, showing lackluster performance. The two teams were divided due to the dark ages of the Doosan Dynasty and the Hanwha Eagles. From 2012 to last year, Doosan had an advantage over the other teams for 11 years, excluding 2018 (eight wins and eight losses).
However, in the three consecutive games at Jamsil on Saturday and Sunday, the Hanwha Eagles finally let go of its long-lasting resentment by sweeping the game against Doosan Bears. The team has secured its first advantage in 13 years by posting nine wins and six losses against the Doosan Bears. Starting pitchers consisting of Ryan Weiss (one run in six innings), Jaime Barria (two runs in five innings), and Ryu Hyun-jin (two runs in seven innings) performed well, displaying outstanding concentration among the batters. Jang Jin-hyeok led the batting average of 462 (six for 13), Lee Do-yoon (six for 13) and the batting average of 462 (two RBIs in 13 times at bat), Jonathan Peraza (four for 14) and Roh Si-hwan led the batters with a batting average of 333 (four for 14). 스포츠토토
It is even more surprising that it is a sweep without center hitters An Chi-hong and Chae Eun-sung. An Chi-hong was removed from the first team entry on the 21st as a protection due to leg discomfort, and Chae Eun-sung, who was replaced after playing two at-bats on the first day of the three consecutive games due to back pain, was also absent from the 24th to the 25th. An Chi-hong showed his willingness to play as a pinch hitter, but manager Kim Kyung-moon dissuaded him and gave him time to recover, and Chae Eun-sung also went down to Busan first, the next away destination.
Hanwha, which had been heavily dependent on the starting lineup due to its thin depth, collapsed if its main players were injured or sluggish. However, it is different now. Hanwha players showed great cohesion despite the absence of two central hitters. An Chi-hong’s defense on second base was firmly filled by Hwang Young-mook, and Jang Jin-hyuk was the troubleshooter in the central lineup without Chae Eun-seong.
In the game on the 24th, he trailed 4-6 and tied the game dramatically in the top of the ninth inning with the loss deep, showing his strong support by winning the game from behind in the 10th inning. In the bottom of the eighth inning, Kim Seo-hyun quickly overcame the shock of collapsing with four runs due to ball control. Although the main phenomenon collapsed with a blon save, Lee Sang-kyu blocked two innings in the 9th to 10th innings without losing a point and won his first transfer. In the game on the 25th, the closing pitcher Joo Hyun-sang and the must-win group Han Seung-hyuk were not allowed to take the mound due to two consecutive games, but starter Ryu Hyun-jin extended the seven innings and blocked Park Sang-won’s two-inning saves to end the game with only two pitchers.
Hanwha’s upward trajectory, which has earned its reputation from Doosan for a long time, is not a temporary phenomenon. Since March 23, Hanwha has achieved 18 wins and seven losses (win rate .720) in the latest 25 games, posting the best performance in the league during the period. With the margin reduced to -4, Hanwha marks 56 wins, 60 losses and two draws (win rate .4828) in this season’s performance, and is just one game behind KT (59 wins, 61 losses, two draws, and a winning rate .492). With the team lagging slightly behind sixth-ranked SSG (58 wins, 62 losses, 1 draw rate .4833), the team has entered the semi-finals. It now has a chance to win the last round of five in the remaining 26 games.
“I didn’t expect to win three consecutive games, but the results were unexpectedly good,” Hanwha manager Kim Kyung-moon said after the game against Doosan Bears. “The victory was driven by Ryu Hyun-jin’s superb defense of seven innings. All the players did a great job for the past week.”
Hanwha will hold three consecutive away games against eighth-ranked Lotte at Sajik Stadium from the 27th to the 29th, and then meet fifth-ranked rival KT at home in Daejeon on the 31st.