The Hanwha Eagles snapped a three-game losing streak with a sweep of the Kia Tigers.
Hanwha defeated the Kia Tigers 4-2 in the 2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League at Kia Champions Field in Gwangju on Wednesday behind a strong pitching performance from starter Ricardo Sanchez and home runs from Jung Eun-won and Jonathan Peraza.
The win snapped a two-game losing streak for Hanwha. With 14 wins and 20 losses, they remain in eighth place in the standings. Leader KIA, on the other hand, lost its second straight game. They remained atop the standings with 22 wins and 12 losses, but trailed second-place NC Dinos (21 wins and 13 losses) by one game.
The two foreigners were the top performers in the win. Sanchez earned his second win of the season, shutting down the KIA bats with seven innings of three-hit, two-strikeout ball. He threw 105 pitches and struck out seven in a dominant performance.
At the plate, Jeong Eun-won and Peraza were the stars of the show. Jeong Eun-won took a 1-0 lead in the top of the fifth off KIA starter Hwang Dong-ha with a two-run homer over the right field wall to extend the lead to 3-0.
Shining.
In the top of the seventh inning, Peraza put the game out of reach with a solo home run to left field. With his 11th home run of the season, Peraza moved into a tie for first place in home runs with Choi Jung-Han Yu-seom (SSG).
Kia got a two-run homer from Socrates Brito in its final at-bat in the bottom of the ninth inning, but it was not enough to put the game away. Choi Won-ho, who took over as Hanwha's full-time manager midway 토토 through last season, became the 57th KBO manager to reach 100 wins (153 wins, 8 losses, 8 draws).
In Suwon, KT Wiz defeated the Kiwoom Heroes 2-1 in extra innings for their second straight win. With the score tied 1-1 and the bases loaded in the bottom of the 10th inning, Mel Rojas Jr. delivered the game-winning hit in a dramatic fashion.
Second-ranked NC demolished SSG Landers' native ace Kim Kwang-hyun in Incheon, taking a 19-5 blowout victory. NC scored 10 runs in the sixth inning alone, with every hitter in the lineup reaching base and scoring an RBI, and the SSG mound was devastated. SSG starter Kim Kwang-hyun suffered his second loss of the season (3-3) with his worst outing of the year, allowing seven runs on eight hits and two walks in 4⅓ innings.
The Doosan Bears edged the LG Twins 6-4 in a rivalry matchup in Jamsil. Doosan scored a run in the top of the ninth inning, trailing 5-4, on an RBI single by Cho Su-hyung. Doosan closer Hong Gun-hee came on in relief with the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth inning and pitched 1 1/3 innings to preserve the win.
In Daegu, Jeong-Hoon Jung hit a game-winning two-run homer as the Lotte Giants defeated the Samsung Lions 8-7. With the win, Lotte improved to 10 wins (22 losses and one tie) for the latest time this season. With his solo home run in the fourth inning, Jeon became the 35th player in KBO history to reach 200 career home runs.