'Good news after a long time'

Unfortunately, the debut win fell short, but I saw a glimmer of hope. It was more than one win.

The Kia Tigers won the first game of a doubleheader against the SSG Landers, 3-2, at Kia Champions Field in Gwangju on Wednesday. Kim Sun-bin's game-winning solo home run in the bottom of the seventh inning and Jung Hae-young's 1⅔-inning perfect game in the closer's role were the highlights, but the victory was made possible by a strong outing from starter Hwang Dong-ha.

In Game 1, Hwang Dong-ha was the starting pitcher for KIA and Roenis Elias was the SSG. In the starting matchup, KIA seemed to have the upper hand. Hwang Dong-ha, a 22-year-old right-hander born in 2002, is currently filling the spot in the starting rotation left vacant by Lee Yi-ri's injury.

In his previous two starts, he suffered losses. On April 27, he gave up five runs in 3⅔ innings against the LG Twins, and on May 3, he gave up three runs in five innings against the Hanwha Eagles.

However, his third start was different. He pitched coolly from the start, working the count quickly. After striking out Choi Ji-hoon, Park Sung-sung, and Choi Jeong in the top of the first, he continued his perfect streak until the second out of the third. Two batters later, Choi Kyung-mo reached on a throwing error by the shortstop, but she didn't falter and struck out the next batter, Choi Ji-hoon, on an infield single.

The first run came in the fourth inning. 안전놀이터 The leadoff hitter gave up a double to Park Sung-han. Choi grounded out in front of the first baseman, allowing Park to advance to third. Guillermo Heredia then hit a sacrifice fly to center field, but he was unable to prevent Park from scoring. However, Hwang was able to get out of the jam without allowing a run.

After Kia's bats quickly regained the 2-1 lead in the bottom of the fourth inning, Hwang retired the bottom of the order without allowing a run despite a leadoff single by Oh Tae-gon in the fifth. Final line: 5 innings, 2 hits, 2 strikeouts, 1 earned run. He walked none and hit a batter to earn the win. He only threw 80 pitches, but due to the nature of the doubleheader with no extra innings, Kia quickly went to the bullpen in the sixth inning.

Unfortunately, the Kia bullpen gave up a run in the top of the seventh inning to tie the game at 2-2, ending Hwang's victory. If the winning pitcher requirement had been met, Hwang would have gotten his first win and first start as a professional, but it didn't happen. Still, Kia was able to hold on for five innings of shutout baseball to secure the 3-2 victory.

After the game, Hwang said, "I wanted to pitch confidently in today's game, and I wanted to show everything I had. I'm disappointed that I didn't get the win, but the team's win is the priority. I thought the first game was important, but I'm glad we won," he said in relief.

With Hwang Dong-ha's strong performance, KIA can rest easy for now. While Lee is preparing to return, the team has another hole in its starting lineup after Will Crowe was recently sidelined with an elbow injury. Manager Lee Bum-ho was also pleased with Hwang Dong-ha's performance, praising him for "pitching so well."

"I pitched five innings for the last two games in a row, but it wasn't hard. I'm trusting my catcher Reed and the defense of the fielders, and I want to show the fans that I'm confident in my next appearance."