A matchup of hard-throwing pitchers who are seen as the future of Korean baseball just ended.
Lee Yi-ri of the KIA Tigers and Moon Dong-joo of the Hanwha Eagles took the mound today (May 25) at Hanwha Life Eagles Park in Daejeon.
Lee Yi-ri throws the fastest ball among left-handed pitchers in Korea, while the right-handed Moon Dong-joo has the best fastball among Korean pitchers, both lefties and righties.
Moon Dong-ju in particular made waves last month when he became the first Korean pitcher to throw a fastball over 160 kilometers per hour (160.1 mph) in a game against KIA.
The matchup between the two pitchers drew a lot of attention before the game, but the outcome was close.
The game ended without a winner as Lee struck out early in the second inning and Moon Dong-joo allowed the tying run to score.
After easily getting through the inning with two strikeouts in the first, Lee gave up a leadoff single to Noh Shi-hwan in the bottom of the inning with a 1-0 lead, and was then automatically ejected for a head shot when the ball hit Kim In-hwan in the head.
In the KBO, pitchers are automatically required to leave the mound if they hit a batter in the head with a fastball to protect players.
Kim Ki-hoon, a lefty who throws a heavy, fastball, hurriedly took Lee Yi-ri’s baton, but right out of the gate, he gave up three walks and two unearned runs.
Both runs were unearned by Lee.
Moon put runners on second and third with a single and walk in the first inning, then threw a curveball to Choi Hyung-woo with two outs, who hit a single to right to give up a run.
Moon settled down with two strikeouts in the second inning, but with the score 3-1, he gave up a hit, a walk and a wild pitch after two outs in the top of the third, then threw a low fastball to Ko Jong-wook with runners on second and third before giving up a two-run double to Jung-wol Woo.
Moon Dong-ju, who made it through the fourth inning with the help of his defense, gave up three runs on five hits and three walks in four innings.안전놀이터
He also left with two wild pitches and a walk.
Lee topped out at 153 kilometers per hour on his fastball.
Moon’s average velocity surpassed Lee’s at 154 kilometers per hour, and his fastball was 155.8 kilometers per hour, according to PTS by Sports2i, the KBO’s official stats company.