Eagles edge out Bears for 10th straight win in KBO
The Hanwha Eagles' players celebrate after winning against the Doosan Bears during the clubs' Korea Baseball Organization regular-season game at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul, Tuesday. Yonhap
The Hanwha Eagles extended their winning streak to 10 games Tuesday by squeezing past the Doosan Bears 2-1 on the road.
In a battle of the two best teams in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) in July, Eagles starter Moon Dong-ju struck out a season-high nine batters in six shutout innings in front of a sellout crowd of 23,750 at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul. Solo home runs by Roh Si-hwan and Sim Woo-jun provided all the offense for the Eagles, who improved their league-best record to 56-33-2 (wins-losses-ties).
The Eagles became only the second team in the KBO's 43-year history to post two double-digit winning streaks in the same season, joining the 1985 Samsung Lions. The Eagles previously won 12 in a row from April 26 to May 11.
The Bears, who scored their lone run in the bottom ninth, fell to 38-50-3 as their three-game winning streak ended.
Roh put the Eagles on the board in the top second with his solo home run off Bears starter Zach Logue. Roh drilled a 3-2 fastball and sent it 125 meters into the seats in right-center field for his team-leading 19th home run this season.
The Eagles then leaned on their defense to stay up by one.
With one out and a runner at second in the bottom third, Oh Myeong-jin hit a sinking liner off starter Moon Dong-ju toward shallow left-center field for what appeared to be an RBI hit. But center fielder Luis Liberato laid out at full stretch for a run-saving catch, bringing thousands of Eagles faithful to their feet.
Oh, the Bears' second baseman, returned the favor with his glove in the top fifth, giving Liberato a taste of his own medicine.
With two outs and runners at first and second, Liberato smacked a grounder toward the hole on the right, but Oh dove to his left to keep the ball in the infield before throwing out Liberato while still on the ground.
Meanwhile, Moon kept dealing on the mound, striking out two batters in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings.
Logue also held the Eagles at bay after Roh's home run, allowing just three more singles from the third inning to the seventh inning while inducing two inning-ending double plays.
The Eagles failed to score after loading the bases in the top eighth against reliever Lee Young-ha, who struck out Lee Won-seok to end that threat.
The Bears couldn't capitalize on that slight opening. Jung Soo-bin got hit by a pitch with two outs in the bottom eighth but was picked off at first for the deflating final out of the inning.
The Eagles finally gave themselves some breathing room with two outs in the top ninth, when Sim, their No. 9 hitter, belted a solo home run off reliever Choi Won-joon to give his team a 2-0 lead.
The Bears made things more interesting in the bottom ninth, with Yang Eui-ji knocking in their first run with a one-out single off closer Kim Seo-hyeon after Oh Myeong-jin led off the inning with a double. But then Kim retired the next two batters for his 23rd save of the season.