The Hanwha Eagles defeated the top-ranked LG Twins behind the pitching of ‘second-year’ Moon Dong-ju.

Hanwha earned a 2-1 victory over LG in the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League on Wednesday at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul. The win was the second in a row for Hanwha, which improved to 34 wins, 4 draws, and 40 losses. First-place LG, on the other hand, suffered its second straight loss and fell to 49-2-30.

Hanwha took the early lead. In the top of the first inning, Kim In-hwan and Noh Si-hwan hit back-to-back singles. Chae Eun-sung followed with a straight hit to the second baseman, but Moon Hyun-bin followed with an RBI double on a full count of nine pitches.

With a two-run lead, Hanwha starter Moon Dong-joo took the mound and showed off his great stuff. In the bottom of the first inning, he struck out leadoff hitter Hong Chang-ki on four pitches. Hong, who leads the league in RBIs, was stuck at the plate. After getting Moon Sung-ju to ground out to second on two pitches, Moon struck out Kim Hyun-soo to keep things rolling.

Although LG starter Kelly gave up two runs in the first inning, he settled down from there. In the second inning, he gave up a single and a stolen base to Lee Do-yoon, but struck out Lee Jin-young to end the inning.

The pitching battle was on in earnest. Moon Dong-joo gave up a leadoff single to Oh Ji-hwan in the bottom of the second inning. But he got Park Dong-won to fly out to shortstop and Moon Bo-kyung to pop out to center field.

Kelly then struck out Kim In-hwan, Noh Si-hwan, and Chae Eun-sung in the top of the third to record the first triple play of the inning.

In the bottom of the third, Moon Dong-ju ran into his first trouble. He was hit by a double off the bat of Hong Chang-ki. Hong didn’t miss the fastball. However, Moon Dong-joo got Moon Sung-joo to fly out to left field to end the inning.

In the fourth and fifth innings, the starters worked back-to-back three-hit innings.

Kelly gave up a single to left to Noh Si-hwan in the top of the sixth. She then retired Chae Eun-sung on a grounder to third base to end the threat in three batters. In the fifth and sixth innings, Kelly needed only seven pitches to get through the inning, saving her pitch count.

Moon Dong-ju almost ran into trouble in the bottom of the sixth. He was hit by Shin Min-jae, the leadoff hitter. In the first inning, Shin tried to steal second base, but catcher Choi Jae-hoon made a quick throw and snagged it. 안전사이트 With a breather, Moon Dong-joo struck out Hong Chang-ki and retired Moon Sung-joo on a pitcher’s interference. The ball rolled between the pitcher and third baseman, and Moon Dong-joo quickly rushed in and made an accurate throw to first base for the out.

In the top of the seventh inning, Choi Jae-hoon’s line drive to third base was caught by Moon Bo-kyung for an out. Encouraged, Kelly got Williams to ground out to second base to end the inning.

Moon faced a tricky situation in the bottom of the seventh. After getting Kim Hyun-soo to fly out and Austin to ground out, he was hit on the inside of the thigh by a pitch from Oh Ji-hwan. Still, Moon didn’t miss a beat and got the final out with his own hands.