Daejeon: A 35-year-old infielder playing in his 30th postseason game and a 21-year-old pitcher making his postseason debut pushed the Hanwha Eagles past the Samsung Lions 9-8 to begin their playoff series at home Saturday. Eagles captain Chae Eun-seong batted 3-for-5 and drove in three runs, two of them coming in a single that broke the 6-6 tie in the bottom of the sixth inning at Daejeon Hanwha Life Ballpark in the central city of Daejeon.
According to Yonhap News Agency, Chae also drove in the team’s ninth run in the bottom eighth, and it loomed large when the Eagles closer Kim Seo-hyeon surrendered two runs in the top ninth before they hung on to win 9-8. Chae had 110 plate appearances in postseason play but had never driven in more than one run in any game until Saturday.
“The first game is always so important and I am happy we came out with this one after some tough situations,” said Chae, who hit a breaking ball from reliever Lee Ho-sung for the go-ahead single in the sixth. “I surprised myself by hitting that curveball,” Chae said with a laugh. “I knew he threw a really good fastball. But I had seen some curveballs earlier in the at-bat and had my timing down on that pitch.”
The Eagles found themselves down 3-0 after the top second and responded with a five-spot in the bottom second. The clubs kept trading punches over the remainder of the game, and with the Eagles’ top starter Cody Ponce giving up a season-high six runs, Chae admitted he wasn’t sure if his team could pull out a win Saturday. “Honestly, the vibe wasn’t great in the dugout when Ponce gave up those early runs,” Chae said. “It’s different when you see your No. 1 starter struggle like that. But then we had our young hitters respond. It wasn’t just my hit that mattered. This was a total team effort.”
After Chae put the Eagles ahead for good, right-hander Moon Dong-ju, normally a starter, came out of the bullpen to twirl two overpowering innings. In just his second relief outing over the past three seasons, Moon struck out four batters and touched 161.6 kilometers per hour with his fastball — the hardest pitch by anyone in the Korea Baseball Organization this year — in the seventh inning. “After Eun-seong gave us the lead, I knew my first inning was going to be really important,” Moon said. “So I focused extra hard. This was such a back-and-forth game that I had to be really locked in on the mound.”
Moon was so fired up after striking out Kim Ji-chan to end the seventh that he swung his arms wildly to fire up the crowd on his way back to the dugout. After ending the eighth inning, though, Moon was back to his subdued self. “I didn’t want to provoke the other team too much,” Moon said. “I think it just showed how focused I was. It just came naturally.”
Chae said he and other veteran players had told their younger teammates before the game to show their emotions on the field after big plays. “We said wild celebrations can get the rest of the team all excited, too,” Chae said. “And they can help you relax a little bit as well.”
Moon said he also received a key piece of advice from Ryu Hyun-jin, former major league All-Star and Cy Young Award candidate back with the Eagles for his second tour of duty. “He told all the pitchers that we have to worry about things we can control and we have to understand the game situation that we’re getting into,” Moon said. “That helped so much today.”
Asked if he was disappointed not to have made a start in his first postseason, Moon said, “Not at all. I am honored to have pitched in the very first game of this series.”