Hanwha Eagles starter Ryu Hyun-jin looks toward the field after completing the top of the sixth inning against the KT Wiz during a Korea Baseball Organization regular-season game at Hanwha Life Eagles Park in Daejeon, 160 kilometers south of Seoul, on March 29, 2024. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Apr. 4 (Korea Bizwire) — With the intervention of Mother Nature, Hanwha Eagles starter Ryu Hyun-jin will take his third crack at his first win of the 2024 season on Friday, and do so in his very first South Korean game inside a dome.
Ryu, former National League All-Star back in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) after 11 seasons away, had been slated to start Thursday against the Lotte Giants at Hanwha Life Eagles Park in Daejeon, some 160 kilometers south of Seoul. However, after Wednesday’s game between the two clubs was rained out, Ryu’s start was pushed back to Friday.
Instead of pitching Thursday as scheduled on five days’ rest, Ryu asked his club for an extra day off. It set up a road meeting against the Kiwoom Heroes at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, with first pitch at 6:30 p.m.
Ryu’s return to the KBO, where he’d first pitched from 2006 to 2012, has been one of the biggest storylines this season. Even his spring training scrimmages and bullpen sessions attracted plenty of buzz.
After two starts in the regular season, though, Ryu remains winless. At 0-1, Ryu is the only Eagles starting pitcher without a victory and with a loss. Long the doormat of the KBO, the Eagles are in first place through Wednesday with a 7-2-0 (wins-losses-ties) record, their best start in a decade.
Ryu was not at his best in either of his starts so far. On March 23, the first day of the season, Ryu allowed five runs — three unearned — on six hits and three walks in an 8-2 loss to the LG Twins. Ryu failed to strike out a batter for only the second time in his KBO career, as he struggled to locate his pitches.
Six days later, Ryu made his first start of the season at home, but got a no-decision after giving up two runs on eight hits in six innings against the KT Wiz. The left-hander struck out nine and didn’t walk anybody, but also experienced some command issues as well.
After both outings, Ryu stressed the importance of command. No longer able to blow by hitters with fastballs, the 37-year-old has to rely on sharp command and pitch sequence to keep them off balance and induce soft contact for easy outs.
Hanwha Eagles starter Ryu Hyun-jin reacts after giving up two runs against the KT Wiz during a Korea Baseball Organization regular-season game at Hanwha Life Eagles Park in Daejeon, 160 kilometers south of Seoul, on March 29, 2024. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
Ryu’s final KBO outing before leaving for Major League Baseball (MLB) had come against the Heroes in Daejeon on Oct. 4, 2012, when they were called the Nexen Heroes under a different corporate sponsor.
With a move to the majors looming, Ryu had said at the time he wanted to earn his 99th career win against the Heroes to match the number on his jersey and picked up win No. 100 for his first victory back in the KBO down the road.
Ryu and the Eagles were nursing a 1-0 lead in the seventh inning when Kang Jung-ho, future MLB player himself, hit a game-tying solo home run off his friend. Ryu tossed 129 pitches in 10 innings for the longest start of his KBO career, but only got a no-decision as the game ended in a 1-1 tie.
Ryu will be making his first appearance at Gocheok Sky Dome, the only domed stadium in South Korea that opened in 2016 while Ryu was in MLB.
Ryu did visit the ballpark on March 20 to reconnect with his former Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, when the Dodgers were in town to play the San Diego Padres in MLB’s season-opening Seoul Series.
Ryu’s last KBO victory came on Sept. 25, 2012, against the Doosan Bears.
(Yonhap)
