Hanwha Eagles’ Jang Min-jae regained his ‘SK Killer’ appearance, but unfortunately did not win.
Hanwha lost 3-7 in the home opening game against SSG Landers in the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League held at Daejeon Hanwha Life Insurance Eagles Park on the 7th. The previous day (6th), he broke a 3-game losing streak and won his first win of the season, but he could not continue his good energy.
Jang Min-jae, who started as the starting pitcher for the home opener, did his part. He threw 75 pitches in 5 innings, giving up 2 hits (1 home run), 2 walks and 1 run. He competed on an equal footing with opponent starter Park Jong-hoon, the “Hanwha Killer” (6 innings, 3 hits, no runs) and led the game to a pitcher’s battle.먹튀검증
Jang Min-jae, who showed off a clean start by taking the first inning with 8 balls, allowed Heredia a solo home run in the second inning without a runner and allowed a run. Afterwards, Hanyu-seom was treated as a ground ball for the first pitch and then Park Seong-han walked, but Oh Tae-gon struck out and did not shake.
Jang Min-jae gave a walk to Choo Shin-soo after one out in the 3rd inning, but continued to show a sense of stability by treating both Choi Ji-hoon and Choi Jeong as floating balls. He allowed a hit to Choi Joo-hwan in the 4th inning, but finished the inning without faltering with a ground ball, a stolen base stop, and a ground ball. In the 5th inning, he pulled out a tripartite with 10 balls and finished the pitch neatly.
Despite fighting well in the home opening game, the team’s batting line remained silent, putting Jang Min-jae in danger of defeat. However, at the end of the 7th inning, Hanwha made a tie with an opponent’s error and Park Sang-eon’s timely hit, and Jang Min-jae’s loss was erased. At the end of the 8th inning, Chae Eun-seong’s timely hit and O’Grady’s sacrifice fly RBI added 2 runs to turn the score around 3-1 and seem to have succeeded in winning 2 in a row.
However, Jang Si-hwan, who took the mound in the ninth inning, allowed consecutive doubles and conceded a run, creating a crisis with one company on 1st and 3rd base, and then went down. Yoon San-heum, who came up next, also made the bases loaded crisis with a walk as his pitch was shaken. He seemed to keep the victory by striking out Oh Tae-gon, but after a full count match with Jeon Eui-san, he gave up a push walk and the match went back to square one. In the end, Hanwha suffered a disappointing loss in the home opener, with Han Seung-hyeok and Joo Hyun-sang scoring 4 points in the top of the 10th inning.
The team lost unfortunately, but Jang Min-jae reaped the harvest of regaining the aspect of his natural enemy against SSG in his first appearance. Jang Min-jae has built a reputation as a ‘SK killer’ with an average ERA of 3.61 and 7 wins (5 losses) in 28 games against SK Wyverns, the predecessor of SSG. However, after changing to SSG, the relative performance last year was sluggish with an average ERA of 6.57 in 3 matches and 1 loss, and the relationship with the natural enemy was shaken.
Jang Min-jae, a 15-year professional who has quietly played his role as a Hanwha one-club man, will acquire the FA qualification for the first time at the end of this season. Last year, he kept the rotation even in difficult circumstances and had a career high season, recording 7-8 with a 3.55 ERA in 32 games (25 starts). In particular, he proved the value of a veteran by playing the role of a stopper that broke the team’s losing streak.
Jang Min-jae, who played a key role in Hanwha’s selection this season, played a good fight to repay the coach’s trust from his first start. Attention is focusing on whether Min-jae Jang can make 2023, which will be a more important season than ever, his best year.