DAEGU– Doosan Bears’ right-hander Hong Geon-hui entered Tuesday’s postseason game against the Samsung Lions in one of the most stressful situations imaginable for a reliever.
The Lions had the bases loaded with one out in the bottom fifth, and had one of their best hitters, Oh Jae-il, coming to the plate. The Bears were nursing a 3-2 lead, trying to steal Game 1 of the best-of-three series in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) postseason on the road at Daegu Samsung Lions Park.
In relief of starter Choi Won-joon, Hong came on and pumped seven straight fastballs against Oh. And that seventh pitch proved to be the lucky one for Hong, as Oh grounded into an inning-ending double play.
“I am not really a breaking ball pitcher anyway, and I had confidence in my fastballs,” Hong said. “I didn’t want to fall behind in the count throwing breaking balls. I wanted to go after hitters with my best pitch. And as soon as Jae-il made contact, I knew it was going straight to one of our infielders. It was a tough at-bat and I was so relieved afterward.”
After cleaning up the mess for Choi that time, Hong pitched himself into trouble in the sixth inning. With one out, the Lions hit two straight singles, and an error by shortstop Park Gye-beom loaded the bases once again.
The top of the order was coming up, but Hong somehow wiggled his way out of the jam again.
Against leadoff man Park Hae-min, Hong threw two straight fastballs to get him to bounce one to first baseman Yang Suk-hwan, who threw home to get the lead runner out.
Hong threw a first-pitch slider against Kim Ji-chan, and then went back to his trusted fastball to get him to fly out softly to left field.
Hong pitched a clean seventh inning against the meat of the Lions’ order. Hong struck out No. 3 hitter Koo Ja-wook on three straight fastballs, and two batters later, Oh fanned on a 2-2 fastball.
Hong came back out for the eighth, even as his pitch count was creeping up to his season high of 49.
Jose Pirela led off that inning with a towering double that came within a few feet of clearing the right field fence. Hong then walked the next batter, and allowed a sacrifice bunt on his 52nd pitch of the evening.
With tying runs aboard, left-hander Lee Hyun-seung replaced Hong to try to put out the fire. He kept the damage to minimum as Kang Han-wool grounded out to second to bring in only one run, which was charged to Hong.
There was nothing fancy about Hong’s final line: three innings, three hits, two strikeouts and one earned run. But such a workmanlike outing was exactly what the Bears needed when they were short on relief options.
Right-hander Lee Young-ha, a former starter who has become a valuable reliever who can eat up innings, wasn’t going to pitch Tuesday after tossing 66 pitches on Sunday to clinch the previous series.
“I told Young-ha to put his feet up tonight and rest, because I was going to take care of business,” Hong said. “My arm is perfect. I feel like I can pitch again tomorrow.”
And the Bears’ typically opportunistic offense quietly pounded out 12 hits, and scored three insurance runs over the final two innings to secure Hong his first career postseason win.
Hong, 29, began his KBO career with the Kia Tigers in 2011. He could always throw hard but didn’t often know where the ball was going. The Tigers traded him to the Bears in June last year, and Hong had his first taste of postseason baseball five months later.
Then he enjoyed his best regular season in 2021, posting career highs of 2.78 ERA and 17 holds. He struck out 82 in 74 1/3 innings for 9.93 strikeouts per nine innings, also a personal best.
Doosan manager Kim Tae-hyoung had designs on turning Hong into a starter for this season, but the pitcher was adamant about staying in the bullpen. The manager decided to keep him there, and it’s difficult to imagine where the Bears would be without Hong piecing together crucial outs in middle relief.
And Hong said he doesn’t know where he’d be in his career if he hadn’t been traded to the Bears.
“Since I came over, my coaches have been encouraging me to trust my fastball and not get away from hitters,” Hong said. “The more fastballs I threw, the faster they became. And I learned some valuable lessons pitching in big games last year. I am not as nervous this year.”
Source: Yonhap News Agency