Professional baseball Hanwha Eagles' Moon Dong-ju left the mound having qualified for the winning pitcher in his second start of the season. He wasn't at 100% but did his job and was replaced.
Moon Dong-ju started on the 8th at Incheon SSG Landers Field in an away game against the SSG Landers in the 2026 Shinhan SOL KBO League, going five innings, four hits allowed (one home run), two walks, four strikeouts and two earned runs. Total pitches 92. His top speed was 155 km/h, not as fast as usual, but he mixed in a forkball, slider and curve to keep the SSG lineup in check.
There was a crisis from the first inning but he got through it. After allowing a triple to leadoff hitter Park Seong-han, Moon Dong-ju induced Guillermo Heredia into a shortstop flyout and Choi Jeong into a third-inning groundout on the first pitch. He then walked Kim Jae-hwan, creating a 1-and-3 situation, but escaped without allowing a run when Ko Myung-jun hit a first-pitch shortstop flyout.
In the second inning, after striking out Han Yoo-seom looking, he gave up a soft single to Choi Ji-hoon but the inning was ended by a groundout by Jo Hyeong-woo to shortstop and a hard grounder to third by Jeong Jun-jae. In the top of the third, Hanwha took a 4-0 lead with a three-run homer by Kang Baek-ho, and in the bottom of the third, after one out he gave up a solo home run to Heredia but steadied himself and retired Choi Jeong and Kim Jae-hwan on a foul fly to right and a groundout to first, respectively.
In the fourth inning, Moon Dong-ju got a slider to Ko Myung-jun and struck out Han Yoo-seom with a called third strike, then retired Choi Ji-hoon on a flyout to center to record his first perfect inning of the day.
In the fifth inning the game lengthened and he threw quite a few pitches. After getting Jo Hyeong-woo on a groundout to first, Moon Dong-ju allowed a single to Jeong Jun-jae and walked Park Seong-han, creating a 1-out, 1-and-2 situation. Heredia was retired on a flyout to center.
In the subsequent matchup with Choi Jeong, starting from an unfavorable 3-ball count he allowed a single to right-center that produced another run. With the continued 2-out, 2-and-3 situation, he battled Kim Jae-hwan to a full count and induced a swing-and-miss on a 134 km/h forkball on the seventh pitch, finishing his outing without further runs. From the sixth inning he had qualified for the win and handed the mound over to the bullpen.
Moon Dong-ju's season preparation was somewhat delayed compared with other players after shoulder inflammation discovered at spring camp led to intermittent stops and starts. Still, he entered the opening rotation without issue and planned to bring his condition up slowly.
In his first start of the season on the 2nd against the KT Wiz he was a bit disappointing, allowing a grand slam to Jang Sung-woo and finishing with four innings, seven hits, two walks, three strikeouts and five earned runs. But manager Kim Kyung-moon said the fact he pitched through the fourth was a great help to the team and that he looked forward to the next start, and Moon fully answered the manager's wish that he throw five innings that day.
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