Rookie Jung Hyun-woo (19) broke the losing streak of the Kiwoom Heroes in the professional baseball league. He proved his value as the No. 1 overall pick by silencing the hotly contested Hanwha Eagles lineup. 

In an away game against Hanwha in the 2025 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League held at Hanwha Life Ball Park in Daejeon on Sunday, Chung took the lead in Kiwoom's 6-2 victory by allowing seven hits, one walk, three strikeouts, and two runs in five innings. Hanwha's batting lineup, which started to rouse the team with a total of 24 points in the previous three games, was also blocked by Chung on the day and ended up with only two points. 안전놀이터

Chung Hyun-woo, who won his second win of the season in two games on the 17th after his first win against KIA in Gwangju (five innings, eight hits, seven walks, four strikeouts, six runs and four earned runs), lowered his ERA from 5.40 to 4.80. 

Kiwoom, which has been slowing down with one win and three losses this week, including two consecutive losses, left for a while due to maternity leave, and the batting lineup became loose as No. 4 hitter Ruben Cardinez, and Lee Ju-hyung also fell out with an ankle injury. Pitchers, especially starters, who needed to minimize the number of runs, were burdened with Ha Young-min (6 runs in 4 innings) against LG in Jamsil on the 10th and Kim Yoon-ha (5 runs and 4 earned runs in 5 innings) against Hanwha on the 11th, giving the game a run in the early stages. 

However, Chung Hyeon-woo was different on this day. Jung Hyun-woo, who took the mound after Kiwoom's batters took the lead in the top of the first inning, got a double from Esteban Floral in the bottom of the first inning, but he handled the other three batters out. With one out and second base, he caught Moon Hyun-bin with a fly ball to center field and Noh Si-hwan with a straight hit to second base to clean up the first inning. 

In the bottom of the second inning, he allowed consecutive hits to Chae Eun-sung and Kim Tae-yeon, putting Lee Jin-young on the verge of first and second bases with no outs, but he took a breather by striking out Lee Jin-young with a fork ball. He then calmly caught Chae Eun-sung, who was aiming to steal the third base, and caught Lee Jae-won with a fly ball to the left field without a run. 

In the bottom of the third inning, Shim Woo-joon grounded out to shortstop, Hwang Young-mook hit third base foul fly, and Floral hit straight to right field to successfully complete the first three out. Right fielder Park Joo-hong helped Chung by diving and catching Floral's hit ball. 

In the bottom of the fourth inning, Roh Si-hwan and Kim Tae-yeon had hits, and there was another crisis with two outs and runners on the first and second bases, but this time, he threw a folk ball to Lee Jin-young to draw a strikeout. In the meantime, Kiwoom's batters supported five points until the beginning of the fifth inning, and Jung Hyun-woo also threw with less pressure. 

His first run came in the bottom of the fifth inning. After giving up a walk to Lee Jae-won, he struck out pinch hitter Ha Joo-seok with a slider toward his body, but Choi In-ho hit the batter's box, facing a crisis with one out and runners on the first and third bases. Chung Hyeon-woo, who lost for the first time when the third baseman came home when Floral grounded out to the second base, allowed Moon to hit a hit that hit the top end of the 8-meter monster wall on the right side. Meanwhile, first baseman Floral hit the homerun, and lost additional runs. 

It was a situation that could have collapsed, but Jung Hyun-woo was calm. The next batter, Noh Si-hwan, had to deal with fly balls to the center field and win the starting pitcher, before leaving the mound. With a total of 84 pitches, he pitched 53 strikes and 31 balls. Focusing on the maximum speed of 147 kilometers per hour and the average speed of 141 kilometers per hour (40), he used sliders (23), curves (13), and folk balls (eight).

Chung Hyun-woo was selected as the No. 1 overall pick in the first round of the 2025 KBO Rookie Draft held in September last year. He was recognized for his high completeness by pushing fireballer Jung Woo-joo (Hanwha), who is spraying fastballs at 156 kilometers per hour, to be selected first. He is a 19-year-old high school graduate with stable ball control, diverse breaking balls and game management skills, but he entered the starting rotation for the opening game, which is unusual, and is gradually adjusting to the league and improving. 

His fastball speed increased on the day compared to the previous games, and his breaking ball control was also successful. He reduced his number of walks from seven and five in the previous two games to one on the day. After the game, Kiwoom manager Hong Won-ki said, "Starting pitcher Chung Hyeon-woo performed his duties well during the five innings. He showed brilliant pitching." "He seems to have good emotional control. I was a bit disappointed in the process in the first two games, but he did not give many walks today. I think it will be good for him to grow in those areas." 

After the game, Chung said, "I didn't control my ball well in the previous two games. I focused on throwing it in the strike zone today, but I got a good result. There was a rain forecast, but I really wanted to play the game. I'm so happy to finish with a victory," regarding his reduction of his walk to one. "(Kim) Jae-hyun advised me that if I throw a ball that is meaningless, opposing batters don't look at it narrowly and don't hit it. You have to focus on strikes to swing the ball," he said. "As a result, my walks and my pitches seem to have decreased as well." 

He also thanked Kiwoom fans for visiting Daejeon and supporting him as a fan tour "Hero Expedition."