Daegu: Hanwha Eagles right-hander Moon Dong-ju added a new chapter to his impressive Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) postseason script Tuesday with yet another dominant, scoreless outing in relief. Moon fired four shutout innings out of the bullpen as the Eagles held off the Samsung Lions 5-4 in Game 3 of their best-of-five series at Daegu Samsung Lions Park in the southeastern city of Daegu. He struck out six and gave up two hits, both of them singles. The Eagles grabbed a 2-1 series lead and will reach their first Korean Series since 2006 with a win Wednesday night in Daegu.
According to Yonhap News Agency, on paper, this was expected to be a pitching duel between the two starters, Ryu Hyun-jin for the Eagles and Ariel Jurado for the Lions. And it had the makings of it through three innings, as the game remained scoreless. The bats woke up on this cool October night, and the teams traded three home runs over the next two innings, with Roh Si-hwan’s two-run bomb giving the Eagles a 5-4 lead.
Ryu got the hook after allowing four runs in the bottom fourth, and reliever Kim Beom-su pitched a scoreless fifth to keep his team in the lead. Kim then issued a leadoff walk in the sixth, and at the first sign of trouble, the Eagles summoned Moon from the bullpen. And he completely took over the game from there. He struck out two of the next three batters to close out the sixth inning. He got into some trouble after allowing a single, a walk, and a wild pitch in the seventh, but retired Lewin Diaz, the regular-season leader with 50 home runs, on a flyball to center to win a seven-pitch battle.
Moon pitched around a leadoff single with two more strikeouts in the eighth, before striking out two more in the ninth for good measure. Moon made 23 starts for the Eagles during the regular season as their No. 4 starter but threw two dominant innings in relief for a 9-8 win in the series opener Saturday. Moon touched 161.6 kilometers per hour (kph) with his fastball in that game, the hardest pitch thrown by anyone this year, regular season or postseason. He dialed back a little bit Tuesday night, topping out at 157 kph, but his forkball was just as effective, inducing some ugly swings and weak contact.
Before Sunday’s Game 2, Eagles manager Kim Kyung-moon hinted he would keep using Moon in relief during the postseason if game situations dictated that. Moon rewarded the manager’s faith Tuesday, and he now has 10 strikeouts in six innings this series. “I didn’t want to lose this one. No matter what the result would be, I wanted to go out there and give it everything I had,” Moon said. “I am happy to have played a big role in such an important game for us.”
Moon admitted he didn’t feel as great as he did on Saturday — hence the diminished fastball velocity — and added, “I wanted to lean on my breaking balls, and it worked out pretty well.” Moon said he didn’t initially think he would cover the final four innings of this tense game, but the way he mowed down Samsung hitters prompted the Eagles coaching staff to make that call on the fly. “I figured I was going to be asked to pitch the ninth inning at this pace,” Moon said. “And I didn’t have that much trouble going from one inning to the next.”
Given his recent success in relief, it appears unlikely Moon will rejoin the rotation in the postseason, not that Moon cares. “As long as the team wins, it doesn’t matter what my role is,” he said. “Whether I am pitching in relief or starting, I just want us to win.”
It was Roh’s home run — his second in two games — that set the stage for Moon’s heroics on the mound Tuesday. The Eagles opened a 2-0 lead in the top fourth, only to see the Lions go ahead 4-2 with a pair of home runs in the bottom half of that inning. The Eagles then cut it to 4-3 with Luis Liberato’s double. Two batters later, Roh drilled a live drive shot into the seats in left to put the Eagles ahead for good at 5-4.
“I treated this like the last game of the series for us,” Roh said. “I’d love to hit a home run in every at-bat. Now that I’ve homered in the second straight game, I want to hit another one in a key spot tomorrow.” Roh credited manager Kim with helping him reset at the plate. The player said the manager called him for a quick chat before his at-bat in the fifth inning and gave him an important reminder. “He doesn’t usually do that, but he told me not to think too much at the plate, and just go up there and swing,” Roh said. “I think I was indeed thinking too much earlier in the game, and that messed up my timing. I think the manager’s message got me straightened out, and I was able to hit that home run.”