Won-jun Choi (Doosan Bears), who was disappointing in his last start, returned to the mound for the first time in three weeks with a strong performance.카지노
Choi made his first start of the 2023 KBO League regular season against the Hanwha Eagles at Hanwha Life Eagles Park in Daejeon on April 2, giving up three hits (one home run), one walk, and four strikeouts in five innings. He didn’t go the distance, but he did what his team needed him to do, going at least five innings with minimal runs allowed.
Choi Won-jun was Doosan’s domestic ace until last year. He won 30 games in three years, helping the team advance to the Korean Series (KS) two years in a row, and was the centerpiece of the mound last year, when the team fell to ninth place. But by April 1, he was in a slump he hadn’t experienced all season, going 2-8 with a 5.45 ERA in 15 games. He hasn’t won a game, but unlike in previous years, he has repeatedly collapsed in big-inning situations. This was the case in his most recent start on July 27 against the Lotte Giants. After two scoreless innings, he gave up five runs in the third inning and ended up giving up six runs in five innings.
The bullpen was saved by Kwak Bin’s seven innings of one-run ball against Hanwha in Daejeon on July 1. Manager Lee Seung-yeop believed that if Choi Won-jun did his job on the second day, the team could win. He said, “It would be great if Choi Won-jun could go at least five innings. He didn’t pitch badly in the last game against the Lotte Giants,” he said. “Today, he’s working well with Yang Ji, so if he can show a good game and keep it up for five innings or more, the main bullpen will back him up.”
Choi Won-jun lived up to that expectation. He gave up a double to Kim Tae-yeon in the first inning, but retired the Hanwha center field lineup of Noh Si-hwan and Chae Eun-sung on a fly ball to end the inning. The second inning was clean. He got leadoff hitter Moon Hyun-bin to fly out to left field on two pitches, then retired Ha Ju-seok on a three-pitch walk and Lee Jin-young on a four-pitch strikeout. In the top of the third, he gave up a double to Park Sang-un, but retired the next two batters on grounders to keep the inning scoreless.
In the bottom of the fourth, Choi Won-jun struck out the first batter he faced, home run leader Noh Si-hwan (21), but gave up the tying run to the next batter, Chae Eun-sung. His first-pitch slider was right down the middle, and Chae didn’t miss, sending it over the left-field fence.
Despite giving up three long balls, she did her job until the fifth inning. After giving up a walk to leadoff hitter Lee Jin-young, Choi Won-joon had runners on first and second on a sacrifice bunt by Oh Sun-jin. But he got Park Sang-un, who had hit a long ball earlier, on a long high fastball and retired the next batter, Jung Eun-won, on a three-pitch fly ball to right field.
His total pitch count was 61, and he could have gone longer, but he left the mound. Injury prevention. When he returned to the dugout after pitching the fifth inning, he appeared to have some discomfort near his side. “He has some stiffness in his right back, so we took him out for protection,” Doosan explained.
Choi was replaced on the mound by long reliever Kim Myung-shin. The game was still tied 1-1 at the end of the sixth inning when Kim Myung-shin pitched a scoreless sixth inning.