The Hanwha Eagles’ bullpen collapsed again.
Hanwha lost 1-8 against Lotte Giants in Busan on the 26th. It wasn’t a great match. It was a 1-2 tie until halfway through the game. Starter Jang Min-jae scored 2 runs in 4 innings, and the second pitcher Kim Ki-joong also made a good pitch.
However, from the 6th inning,메이저놀이터 the back door was completely opened. Hanwha gave Lotte a total of 6 points in the 6th and 7th innings. In particular, he scored 5 runs only in the 7th inning. The flow that had been a melee collapsed in an instant. It was difficult to blame the mound for the run in the 6th inning. It was not recorded as an error, but it was because An Chi-hong’s outfield hit in the first-out situation became a triple due to a defensive mistake. It was because of the so-called ‘decalcomani’ defense, in which the left fielder and center fielder miss while chasing and crossing.
However, the 7th inning was greatly affected by bullpen anxiety. Hanwha sent fastball pitchers Han Seung-hyeok and Kim Bum-soo in succession in a safe first base situation, but the result was a large number of runs. Kim Beom-soo gave up 2 runs on 2 hits in 2/3 innings, and Han Seung-hyuk, who took the mound, finished the 7th inning only after recording 2 runs. Han Seung-hyeok finished the 8th inning without a run, but the victory had already passed.
With this game, the average ERA of Han Seung-hyuk and Kim Bum-soo rose to 7.20 and 4.63. All of them are at a level that is difficult to appoint as a winning team.
During the exhibition game, Hanwha wanted to appoint them as a winning team. Hanwha coach Carlos Subero appointed Kim Beom-soo, who posted 27 holds last year, as the setup man. It was Kim Bum-soo who was the first to appoint a close pitcher who had a vacancy due to Jang Si-hwan’s sluggish performance at the beginning of the season. Coach Subero praised Han Seung-hyeok, who was recruited in a trade after giving away prospect Woo-hyeok Byeon, as a pitcher with no reason to fail.
The reason Subero used them moderately was because of their pitch. Han Seung-hyuk throws an average speed of 147 km/h this season, and Kim Bum-soo throws a fastball of 145.7 km/h. But it doesn’t work. Kim Bum-soo is recording a hit rate of 0.333 on a straight ball. Han Seung-hyuk changed the pitch mix, but it didn’t work. He drastically reduced his two-seam (two-seam fastball) usage rate from 37.5% to 6.4% and raised his fastball usage rate from 15.9% to 49.2%. However, his fastball batting average increased from 0.260 to 0.333.
As of the 26th, Hanwha’s team save is still only one. Kang Jae-min, who took over after Kim Bum-soo performed sluggishly, is also uneasy with an ERA of 4.22. Coach Subero said Park Sang-won was also a candidate for closer, but he struck out only one in two games. The outline of Hanwha’s ‘win formula’ is still not visible.