(Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)
On Tuesday, starting pitcher Hyun-jin Ryu of the Hanwha Eagles won the 100th game of his Korea Baseball Organization career in an 8-2 win against the SSG Landers. According to The Korea Times, Ryu is the 33rd pitcher in KBO history to accomplish the feat.
Ryu allowed one earned run on seven hits in six innings and struck out one. With the win, the 37-year-old improved to 2-3 on the season, lowering his ERA from 5.91 to 5.21. The Eagles improved to 13-18 on Tuesday and are in seventh place in the KBO, 6.5 games back of the first-place KIA Tigers.
The Eagles’ offense scored four runs in the bottom of the third and another four in the bottom of the seventh. In the seventh, outfielder Yonathan Perlaza hit an RBI single, and a bases-clearing double from first baseman An Chi-hong extended the Eagles’ lead to six.
Relief pitchers Lee Min-woo, Kim Kyu-yeon, and Jang Ji-su held the SSG Landers scoreless from the seventh to ninth innings to secure Ryu’s 100th career KBO win.
Ryu returned to the Eagles this winter after playing the first seven years of his professional baseball career with the club from 2006-12. In February, he signed an eight-year, 17 billion won ($12.8 million) contract with the Eagles, making Ryu the highest-paid player in KBO history.
“Hanwha Eagles is a team that helped me become who I am today,” Ryu said in a team statement after signing his contract. “Ever since I made it to the Major League, I have always thought that I would come back and return the favor.”
Ryu, 37, played for the Los Angeles Dodgers (2013-19) and the Toronto Blue Jays (2020-23) in Major League Baseball. While with the Dodgers, he became the first Korean pitcher to start a World Series game in 2018. In 2019, he was a National League All-Star and led MLB with a 2.32 ERA.
The Hanwha Eagles (13-18) will play their next game on Wednesday, May 1, at 5:30 a.m. EST against the SSG Landers (17-14) at Hanwha Life Eagles Park in Daejeon, South Korea.