He returned to the mound less than ten days after losing his beloved grandmother. Jang Min-jae (33, Hanwha Eagles) presented a perfect victory for her heavenly grandmother.
Jang Min-jae started the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League visit match against SSG Landers held at SSG Landers Field in Incheon on the 12th, threw 95 pitches in 5⅓ innings, 5 hits, 2 walks, 6 strikeouts and 1 run (non-account).
He took his 2nd win (2 losses) in 6 games of the season. It was a more meaningful pitch by overcoming a personal ordeal and rescuing a faltering team.
Jang Min-jae suffered the loss of his maternal grandmother on the 2nd. The situation later became a hot topic. Ahead of his start, the sad news was delivered to the management team of the Hanwha club, but his family requested that the news be kept quiet until the game was over. Jang Min-jae heard the news only after pitching was finished, and moved to Gwangju, Jeollanam-do, where a mortuary was set up in tears.
Despite his counterattack, the team suffered six consecutive losses. Jang Min-jae, unable to hide his tears, quietly got on the train to Gwangju without properly informing the athletes of the sad news. He returned to the team on the 5th and gave rice cakes to the players and staff to express his gratitude.
To him, his maternal grandmother is a uniquely special being. He was raised by his maternal grandmother from a young age and received more love, and he also had a special affection. He explained that he often came to the field when he started. It was his first game on the mound after his grandmother left him, so he had a different mindset.
He appeared in the first four games of the season, but had his ups and downs. However, on the last 2 days when his grandmother passed away, he fought hard against the Doosan Bears, giving up 1 run in 5⅔ innings. He didn’t follow the victory, but the pitching of the gwanrok was outstanding.
It was the same on this day. The highest speed of the fastball was 138km/h, which seemed like nothing special, but the average 111km curve and 121km slider shook the hitters’ eyes.
He had a nearly one-to-one ratio of fastballs thrown 41 and forkballs thrown 37. The curve and slider only threw 9 and 8 pitches, respectively. The 6 strikeouts he caught that day also recorded 4 with the forkball as the deciding ball. Other than that, he caught one with a fastball and a slider.
He was also dazzling in his ability to manage crises with a forkball. Choo Shin-soo, who sent out a double from the beginning of the first inning, stepped up to third base with Choi Joo-hwan’s center fielder fly. Choi Jeong-eun walks. However, Heredia threw her bat on a low falling forkball. Choi Jeong-do, who was caught in a strategy and ran to second base, had no choice but to be out. He quickly increased his out count by two and got out of danger.
In the 2nd inning, he was hit in a row and was driven to the 2nd and 3rd bases with a sacrificial bunt, but he struck out Tae-gon Oh and Min-sik Kim in a row. After that, he continued to fight well until the 5th inning without a major crisis.
In the 5th inning, it was finished with a three-way offense, but Kim Min-sik and Choo Shin-soo threw 6 pitches each, and Choi Joo-hwan played 12 pitches, harassing Jang Min-jae. In particular, Choi Joo-hwan kicked off 6 consecutive fouls from the 6th pitch. However, Jang Min-jae did not waver and threw 7 consecutive forkballs, eventually catching Choi Joo-hwan with a ground ball in front of the pitcher and taking the victory pitcher requirements himself.
Although the number of pitches reached 90, Jang Min-jae was on the mound in the 6th inning. Leading batsman Choi Jeong hit a left-handed hit, turned Heredia into a floating ball to center fielder, and passed the ball to Kim Bum-soo. Kim Bum-soo finished the inning without conceding, and after that, the bullpen did not allow pursuit, so he posted his 2nd win (2nd loss) of the season.카지노사이트
As a Hanwha pitcher who is still in the bottom ranks, the fact that he is getting stronger whenever he meets a top-ranked team makes Choi Won-ho, the new coach, smile. Jang Min-jae, who met SSG in the first game of the season on the 7th, pitched 1 run in 5 innings. He didn’t win, but on this day he got his second win of the season. The average ERA (ERA) of the two games against SSG this season is only 0.87. It is a more meaningful figure because it overcame the fact that it was weak with an ERA of 6.57 in three matches against SSG last season.
Coach Won-ho Choi praised him, saying, “Starter Min-jae Jang was on the mound after 10 days, and there was a crisis, but he played a good role.”
In his first game as a coach, he took the mound against the strongest team in professional baseball and dedicated the victory to his maternal grandmother. It was an unforgettable day for Jang Min-jae.