It is suspicious. Foreign pitcher Ricardo Sanchez (27) of the Hanwha Eagles has been struggling since returning from injury.
Sanchez started the game against the Doosan Bears in the “2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League” held at Jamsil Baseball Stadium on the 13th and took his third loss (two wins) of the season as he only allowed six runs (five earned) with 79 pitches, eight hits, two outs and one strikeout. It was worse as a result than the three ⅔ innings against the NC Dinos in Daejeon on the 7th, when he returned from an elbow injury.
His fastball speed was the same as before his injury. He shot a maximum speed of 153 kilometers and an average speed of 149 kilometers. The problem was not the ball power that Doosan’s batters would overwhelm. He tried to endure innings as long as possible by mixing fastballs (36), changeups (25), curves (11), sliders (4), and sinkers (3), but was hit hard.업소알바
It was difficult for the lower-ranked batters leading to No. 6 Kang Seung-ho, No. 7 Jeon Min-jae, No. 8 Park Joon-young, and No. 9 Cho Seung-soo. It started when he was hit by a left-field double by Kang Seung-ho after one out in the bottom of the second inning when the team was tied 0-0. Jeon Min-jae then hit a timely double to the left-center field to make it 0-1, and as Park Joon-young got on base with an infield hit in front of the first baseman, the crisis continued with one out and runners on the first and third bases. Cho then hit a timely two-run triple to the right field, which widened the score to 0-3.
He also failed to receive defense assistance. With one out and a runner on the third base, Henry Ramos was sent out due to an error in catching a grounder to the third base. Two outs later, Yang Eui-ji hit a timely hit, making it 0-4. Doosan hitters easily connected Sanchez’s fastball exceeding 150 kilometers per hour with a hit.
The same was true in the bottom of the third inning. After one out, Kang Seung-ho and Jeon Min-jae were walked in succession to put them on the verge of first and second bases. Then, he gave up a timely double to Park Joon-young, making it 0-5. With one out, second and third bases loaded, Cho allowed a sacrifice fly to the left field, which widened the score to 0-6.
Sanchez was on the mound until the fourth inning. He allowed leadoff hitter Heo Kyung-min to hit a left-handed hit, which seemed to lead to another run-scoring crisis, but ended the inning by turning the center lineup, which was led by Yang Eui-ji, Kim Jae-hwan and Yang Seok-hwan, into a poor hitter. Sanchez was replaced by Jang ahead of his defense in the bottom of the fifth inning.
If Sanchez did not collapse too early, the Hanwha Eagles could have high expectations for a series sweep against Doosan. The Hanwha Eagles’ lineup, which erupted late, put pressure on Doosan by scoring six runs after the sixth inning. Doosan led 9-3 in the top of the ninth inning but was trailing 9-6, and had no choice but to end up with closing pitcher Kim Taek-yeon.
Hanwha has already used a foreign player replacement card. On July 27, the Hanwha Eagles made an official announcement of Felix Peña as a waivers and hired Jaime Barria as a new foreign pitcher for a total of 550,000 U.S. dollars.
Hanwha had been considering replacing Peña when it sought to recruit Barria. Peña had been struggling with three wins and five losses, 37 ⅓ innings and a 6.27 ERA in nine games this season. Sanchez was 2-1 with 45 ⅔ innings and a 3.35 ERA in nine games before leaving due to an elbow injury. Although his innings pitched so poorly that he only had two quality starts, he managed to prevent five innings by allowing the least number of runs. The club needed some time to ponder upon Peña’s injury just before breaking up with him, but confirmed that his injury was not serious and used his first foreign replacement card as planned.
However, Sanchez, who returned after rehabilitation, has yet to display his capacity in the early days of the season. Although he has played only two games, he lost two games, pitched seven ⅔ and had a 9.39 ERA, showing a very sluggish performance. It would be a relief if the team is in the process of recovering from his injury, but if the slump continues further, the Hanwha front desk has no choice but to agonize over the timing to move once more. When Hanwha appointed Kim Kyung-moon as its new coach early this month, the team has strongly expressed its will to advance to the fifth round.
When Sanchez was hit on the day, head coach Kim Kyung-moon visited the player in the dugout and talked for a while to console him. Will Sanchez be able to make a reversal pitch so that there is no talk of the aftermath of the injury in his next appearance? Hanwha would have been satisfied with Barria’s one-run pitching in six innings against Doosan in Jamsil on the 11th and shouted “It’s enough,” but he will have a new task called Sanchez.