Hanwha Eagles starting pitcher Jang Min-jae (33) reported his first victory with a brilliant pitch. He showed the dignity of a veteran.
Jang Min-jae started in the 2023 KBO League KIA Tigers match held at Gwangju-Kia Champions Field on the 13th and fought hard with 6 hits, 1 walk, 6 strikeouts and no runs in 6 innings. The team won 5-1, and Jang Min-jae also embraced his first win. The team also caught its first winning series.
On this day, Jang Min-jae was excellent in stealing 메이저놀이터,the timing of KIA hitters by adjusting the pace
. In the second inning, Kim Sun-bin got a hit in a situation where there were no runners in the second runner, but the follow-up Kim Ho-ryeong was hit. In the 3rd inning, he was hit consecutively with 1 run and 1st base, but Park Chan-ho induced a shortstop grounder and treated it as a double hit.
He walked after two outs in the fourth inning and got a hit after one out in the fifth, but did not allow subsequent hitters to get on base.
By the fifth inning, the number of pitches was only 62. He also saved pitches with his aggressive pitching. Jang Min-jae, who was on the mound in No. 6 as well, was hit in a row by Hwang Dae-in and Choi Hyeong-woo after two outs, and was put at the final juncture. In the match against Kim Seon-bin, who had been hit earlier, he threw only a curveball and a forkball to induce a floating ball in center field, eventually completing a scoreless pitch.
On this day, Jang Min-jae’s top speed was only 138 km. He threw more forkballs (38) than fastballs (28), and threw a mixture of curveballs and sliders to calm the KIA lineup.
Jang Min-jae had a good fight against SSG Landers in Daejeon on the 7th, giving up 1 run in 5 innings. He retired without a win or loss, but his ability to control speed was still alive.
In addition to the game that day, Jang Min-jae is untouchable with an average ERA of 0.82 with 1 win in 2 games and 11 innings.
After the game, Jang Min-jae said, “Every game is important for Hanwha to rise to a higher place, so today I threw my best one ball at a time.” I’m happy,” he said.
Then, he revealed the secret of the victory, saying, “I didn’t feel that my main weapon, the forkball, was that good today, but using the curve and slider together led to good results.”
Jang Min-jae gets his first FA qualification after this season. It is an important year as a reserve free agent.
Nevertheless, he shouted “Team First”, “I don’t have any personal goals. My goal is to make the fielders as comfortable as possible in the game I throw so that the team can win.”