Doosan Bears starting pitcher Choi Won-jun (30) secured the victory against the NC Dinos with a stellar performance on Friday. Choi credits his coaches for helping him break out of his slump.
Choi started the 2024 Shinhan Bank SOL Bank KBO League NC at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul, South Korea, and allowed one run on two hits and two walks over 6⅔ innings.
Coming off the mound in the bottom of the seventh inning with a 6-1 lead, Choi earned his second win of the season (1-1) as his team went on to win by a final score of 7-3.
Choi Won-joon’s performance could be a big boost for Doosan.
Doosan’s starting rotation of Raul Alcantara, Brandon Waddell, Goobin, Choi Won-joon, and Kim Dong-joo has been plagued by unexpected injuries and poor performances this season. Earlier in the day, Brandon was sidelined with a back injury and Alcantara was removed from the roster with a right elbow sprain.
Kim Dong-ju was also sent to the second team after struggling to a 1-1 record with a 5.48 ERA in five games. Choi Won-jun was also shaky with a 1-1 record and a 13.09 ERA before this day. In fact, with the exception of Kwak Bin, none of the starters were effective.
On this day, Doosan looked to lose the starting battle to NC, who had a foreign ace in Castano. Manager Lee Seung-yeop expressed his anxiety before the game, saying, “Choi Won-joon’s pitching comes and goes.”
However, once the game got underway, Choi’s performance was outstanding.
After striking out NC’s Park Min-woo, Son As-seob, and Park Gun-woo in the top of the first inning, Choi gave up a single to Oh Young-soo two batters later, but struck out Seo Ho-cheol to end the inning.
The Doosan bats took the pressure off Choi by scoring four runs in the bottom of the first inning.
He got out of the third inning with a strikeout and gave up a walk to Son in the top of the fourth, but retired the next three batters. In the fifth inning, he got another strikeout.
With two outs in the sixth, he allowed Son to reach on a fielder’s choice, but got Park Gun-woo to fly out to center field. Choi Won-jun, who had pitched five innings 바카라사이트 in his previous game this season (March 27 against KT Wiz), took the mound in the seventh inning.
Choi got the first two outs, but gave up a single to Oh Young-soo and a double to Do Tae-hoon for the first run. Lee decided to make a change and brought in Kim Myung-shin to pitch.
Choi Won-jun pitched his best game of the season and walked off the mound to a rousing ovation from the fans.
Choi’s “surprise performance” was a “rainbow in a drought” as the starting lineup collapsed.
After the game, Choi Won-joon said, “My older brothers, such as (Yang) Ji-hyung and (Yang) Seok-hwan, have been supporting me a lot. “I’m glad that I was able to overcome the psychological pressure and self-doubt due to my poor performance this season,” he said. “I was able to work well with (Kim) Ki-yeon as a catcher, and her lead and defense were also good.
“When I went down to the second team for a while, coaches Kim Sang-jin and Kwon Myung-cheol helped me a lot by organizing the program around me. Thanks to them, I was able to achieve good results,” he said.
Choi also had words of encouragement for fellow junior Kwak Bin, who has yet to win a game this season.
“I was also in a slump last year because I lost one win late and was chased, but if you don’t think about winning and just do what you can, good days will come,” Choi said, emphasizing that “(Kwak) Bin will overcome without faltering. We should help him and give him strength.”
Meanwhile, Lee Seung-yeop said, “Choi Won-joon pitched brilliantly. He did his job perfectly, minimizing both hits and walks. We look forward to more good performances like today.”