Behind Peña Hotto was Ryu Hyun-jin…”He’s a true leader, always encouraging the players”
It was a rebound with a lot of help.
The Hanwha Eagles defeated the Samsung Lions 6-1 at home in the 2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League at Hanwha Life Eagles Park in Daejeon on Monday. The win snapped Samsung’s five-game winning streak.
The batting order was Choi In-ho (left fielder), Jonathan Peraza (right fielder), Ahn Chi-hong (designated hitter), Noh Si-hwan (third baseman), Kim Tae-yeon (first baseman), Moon Hyun-bin (second baseman), Hwang Young-mook (shortstop), Lee Jae-won (catcher), and Jang Jin-hyeok (center fielder). Felix Peña is the starting pitcher.
Peña has bounced back from a brief slump. After opening the season with two straight wins, he took the loss on April 6 against the Kiwoom Heroes, giving up six runs (four earned) in three innings, and on April 12 against the KIA Tigers, giving up three runs in four innings. He suffered two losses.
This time against Samsung was different. He pitched six innings of five hits, one walk, five strikeouts, and no earned runs to earn a quality start (six or more innings pitched and three or fewer earned runs allowed). He earned his third win of the season (2-2).
Totaled 90 pitches (57 for strikes). He spun Samsung hitters with his fastball (50), changeup (34), and slider (6). His fastball topped out at 150 km/h.
What was different from the previous two matches. “The mechanics,” Peña said. I’ve been working hard with the pitching coach and the trainers, and they’ve been helping me with the things that I need, especially in this time of the year,” he said, adding, “They’ve been managing me well, and I think it’s paid off.”
Instead of Choi Jae-hoon at catcher, Lee Jae-won shared the battery with Choi. Hanwha manager Choi Won-ho said before the game, “Peña has to do a good job. That’s why we put Lee Jae-won in the starting lineup,” Choi said before the game, adding, “We wanted to create an environment for Peña to pitch well. When Peña pitched with Lee Jae-won, he pitched well,” he explained.
“I’ve had a good flow with Lee Jae-won since the start of the season, and it’s not that I don’t have good chemistry with Jae-hoon Choi. “You can see that the results are going well and that it’s a good fit (with Lee Jae-won),” he said, adding, “I don’t care about things like that (catcher) because baseball is a game where you can’t always be good. Baseball is a game where you can’t always be good, so I don’t really care about things like that (catcher),” he said.
“Before the game, I talked to Lee Jae-won about how I was going to approach the game. He gave me a lot of confidence to throw aggressively,” he added.
With a 3-0 lead, the top of the sixth inning was the decisive inning. Peña walked Ryu Ji-hyeok and struck out Kim Ji-chan on a wild pitch to load the bases with 카지노사이트 two outs, but gave up a single to left-center to Lee Jae-hyun and a double to right to Koo Ja-rook. A walk to David McKinnon loaded the bases with two outs. Peña got Kang Min-ho to ground out to short to end the inning.
Reflecting on the situation, Peña said, “I think the ball that didn’t get called a strike against McKinnon was in the strike zone in my last at-bat against Minho Kang. I was fortunate,” he smiled, “I was really happy to get the strikeout.”
Peña was originally scheduled to start against the NC Dinos at NC Park in Changwon on April 18, but the game was canceled due to extreme fine dust. As a result, his start date was pushed back a day and he took the mound today.
“I think it was beneficial to have an extra day to recover,” Peña said. “Of course, I could have pitched yesterday (Dec. 18) and I would have had no problem,” Peña said. “I was in good shape with the extra day off. I’m very happy we got to play at home and we got the win,” he said.
“On the field, on the mound, I always try to give 100%, even though the results are not always positive, I try to get 100% out of it,” he said, adding, “I always take responsibility, train and prepare for the game.”
Peña has been with Hanwha for three years, from 2022 to this year. What’s different about this year’s team compared to previous years? “The biggest difference is the presence of Ryu Hyun-jin. “He’s a true leader,” says Peña, “and he really encourages each player. He really talks to each and every one of the players,” he emphasized.
For example. “Even if we didn’t play well yesterday, he would say, ‘Yesterday is over. We can do well today,'” he said. Ryu’s presence is making a lot of difference to the team.”
After the win, Samsung Electronics coach Choi Won-ho also applauded Peña. “Peña showed his crisis management skills and perfectly fulfilled his starting role with six scoreless innings,” Choi said, giving him a thumbs-up.
