Baseball
Baseball
Wang Yen-cheng Dominates as Hanwha Snaps Skid, LG Struggles
Hanwha Eagles’ pitcher Wang Yen-cheng delivered a stellar performance on August 4, 2026, securing his 10th win of the season and leading his team to a 4-1 victory over the Samsung Lions in Daegu. This crucial win at Samsung Lions Park broke Hanwha’s three-game losing streak, propelling them to a 47-3-49 record and keeping their pursuit of fifth place alive. Meanwhile, second-place Samsung, now 59-2-39, fell further behind league-leader KT Wiz by 1.5 games after their second consecutive loss.
Wang Yen-cheng, the first Asian-quota player to reach 10 wins in the KBO League, pitched six scoreless innings, allowing only three hits, two walks, and striking out seven batters with 106 pitches. His effort marked his seventh quality start of the season, tying him for the league lead in wins. Samsung’s starting pitcher Yang Chang-seop struggled, yielding three runs on two hits and six walks over 4⅔ innings, resulting in his second loss against eight wins.
Hanwha’s offense, despite managing only five hits, capitalized on eight walks and a hit-by-pitch from Samsung’s pitchers. They scored three runs in the fifth inning via a wild pitch and a bases-loaded walk, followed by an RBI single from Noh Si-hwan in the eighth. Noh Si-hwan also achieved his 73rd career hit, marking his sixth consecutive season with 100 or more hits. Samsung’s lone run came in the ninth inning from a LeWin Diaz RBI, but their early scoring opportunities were squandered by double plays and a lack of clutch hitting.
Elsewhere in the league, two games were canceled due to a severe heatwave warning issued by the meteorological agency. The NC Dinos-Doosan Bears game in Seoul and the KT Wiz-KIA Tigers game in Gwangju were postponed. The LG Twins, who were battling for the top spot in the first half, continued their second-half slump, falling to third place, six games behind KT and five behind Samsung. Manager Yum Kyung-yup attributed their 3-1-11 record in the second half to the inconsistent performance of their starting rotation, whose ERA has worsened significantly from 4.39 in the first half to 7.48.
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