Hanwha’s rain-shortened starting rotation could affect LG in the race for first place.
The Lotte-Hanwha game scheduled for Daejeon’s Hanwha Life Eagles Park on the 30th has been rained out again. Following the previous day (29th), the game was canceled due to rain.
It had been raining heavily since the previous day, and despite the tarpaulin, there were puddles in various places. The field was not playable, and KBO Commissioner Kim Si-jin made the decision to cancel the game.
Right-hander Lee Tae-yang, who was scheduled to start on the 29th and 30th, will start against Lotte on the 31st. “If it’s canceled, we’ll go with Lee Tae-yang tomorrow, and if we go backwards, the gap between starts will be too long,” Hanwha manager Choi Won-ho said.
As a result, Hanwha will use all three starters – Felix Peña, Moon Dong-joo, and Ricardo Sanchez – for the three-game series against LG at Jamsil Stadium next month. If it hadn’t rained for two consecutive days, it would have been Peña, Moon Dong-joo, Lee Tae-yang or Han Seung-joo.메이저사이트
Based on recent results, Lee Tae-yang is the best option, but for the season as a whole, Hanwha’s 1-3 starters are Peña, Moon Dong-joo, and Sanchez. Peña has struggled with a 4.24 ERA in three games for LG Electronics, but his opponent Moon Dong-joo has been strong with a 1-1 record and a 3.18 ERA in two games. Sanchez also has good memories of his last outing against Daejeon on June 10, when he pitched eight innings of two-hit ball with eight strikeouts and no walks.
The pressure is on for first-place LG, which is 4.5 games behind second-place KT after suffering a heartbreaking three-game sweep at Changwon NC last weekend. LG is already facing a gap in its starting lineup after losing foreign pitcher Adam Plutko to a pelvic bone bruise that will take four to five weeks to recover from.
LG is expected to start Im Chan-gyu, Lee Jung-yong, and Kim Yun-sik for the three-game weekend series. The starting pitching matchup favors Hanwha. This year, LG holds a slight edge over Hanwha with five wins, four losses, and one tie. Hanwha has also been on a bad streak lately, losing six straight games, but facing 1-3 starters will be tough for LG.