“I wish today was the opening game,” said an official of the Hanwha Eagles who was watching the practice game. That’s how pleasant the victory was. Hanwha beat KT Wiz to record its first win in a practice game in Okinawa.
Hanwha defeated KT 15-2 in a practice match held at Gochinda Stadium in Okinawa, Japan on Wednesday. Hanwha, which had secured both matches against the Australian national team in the first spring camp in Australia, moved to the second spring camp in Okinawa, Japan, suffered a 5-9 come-from-behind loss in the game against the Hanshin Tigers on Saturday, and a 5-5 draw against the Samsung Lions on Sunday, but secured a landslide victory against KT on Sunday.
Hanwha organized the starting lineup in the order of Jung Eun-won (left fielder), Peraza (right fielder), Ahn Chi-hong (designated hitter), Noh Si-hwan (third baseman), Chae Eun-sung (first baseman), Moon Hyun-bin (second baseman), Lee Jin-young (middle fielder), Ha Joo-seok (striker), and Choi Jae-hoon (catcher), followed by Bae Jeong-dae (middle fielder), Kim Min-hyuk (left fielder), Lojas (right fielder), Park Byung-ho (first baseman), Jang Sung-woo (catcher), Hwang Jae-gyun (third baseman), Moon Sang-cheol (designated hitter), Jang Joon-won (striker) and Cheon Sung-ho (second baseman).
Hanwha scored a run from the bottom of the first inning against KT’s starting pitcher Wes Benjamin. Jung Eun-won, the leadoff hitter, got on base with a double to right and advanced to the third base on a wild pitch, and homered on Ahn Chi-hong’s sacrifice fly. Against Hanwha’s starting pitcher Kim Min-woo, KT created a 1-1 balance by combining Chun Sung-ho’s double to right and Bae Jung-dae’s heavy hit in the top of the third inning.
However, Hanwha scored five runs and took the lead. After Jung Eun-won’s heavy hit in the bottom of the second inning, Hanwha added more runs with Peraza’s grounder, An Chi-hong, Noh Si-hwan, and Chae Eun-sung’s consecutive hits in the bottom of the third inning. Moon Hyun-bin also hit a hit to the right field against the new pitcher Park Se-jin, and due to an error by right fielder Rojas, not only the runners but also the batter Moon Hyun-bin home, leading the Hanwha Eagles to a 6-1 run.
Hanwha added four more runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. An Chi-hong got on base due to a third baseman error, and hit consecutive hits by Chae Eun-sung and Moon Hyun-bin. Later, Ha Joo-seok’s walk, Choi Jae-hoon’s hit to the middle, and Jung Eun-won’s hit to the right widened the score to 10-1. 핑크알바
KT recovered a point in the top of the fifth inning when Hanwha’s opponent Jung Joon-young and Kim Min-hyuk got on base with consecutive walks, and Jung Joon-young homered with a wild pitch after Rojas’ double play, but Hanwha ran away again in the bottom of the sixth inning due to KT’s error. Later, he scored one more run with Hwang Young-mook’s walk in the bottom of the seventh inning and Kim Tae-yeon’s double in the middle, making the game 15-2 with Lee Jae-won and Lee Sang-hyuk’s timely hit on the bases-loaded chance that led to Kim Kang-min’s hit ball and Lee Do-yoon’s walk.
On this day, Hanwha’s starter Kim Min-woo recorded three hits, three strikeouts and one run in two ⅔ innings, and Lee Min-woo was responsible for striking out one out. Since then, Kim Seo-hyun has allowed no run in one inning and Jung Yi-hwang has allowed one run in one inning, before Kim Kyu-yeon, Kim Bum-soo, Joo Hyun-sang and Park Sang-won have allowed no run in one inning.
In the batting lineup, Moon Hyun-bin stood out with two hits, four RBIs and two runs, and Jung Eun-won stood out with three hits and two RBIs and one run, while Noh Si-hwan, Chae Eun-sung, Lee Jin-young, Choi Jae-hoon and Lee Sang-hyuk also scored multiple hits to coordinate their batting performance. KT was the only one with Kim Gun-hyung recording two hits, causing a crushing defeat due to his errors.
Meanwhile, Ryu Hyun-jin, who joined the team on the 23rd after confirming his return to Korea for the first time in 12 years, played bullpen pitching on the 23rd and the 26th, and only performed simple training sessions on the day. Ryu will perform live pitching on March 1 and conduct the final real-life inspection before the exhibition game with a blue-and-white match in Korea.