The joy of meeting again after 1196 days! Elbow pain, waiting, chronic finish, injury break → I will protect the determination team of the junior who took on the heavy responsibility

Sep 11, 2025

The joy of meeting again after 1196 days! Elbow pain, waiting, chronic finish, injury break → I will protect the determination team of the junior who took on the heavy responsibility
photo courtesy of NC Dinos



The joy of meeting again after 1196 days! Elbow pain, waiting, chronic finish, injury break → I will protect the determination team of the junior who took on the heavy responsibility
NC Kim Jin-ho is struggling. Reporter Park Jae-man pjm@sportschosun.com
The closer suddenly left in the midst of the five-team battle.

NC Dinos Ryu Jin-wook was canceled from the first team ahead of the match against Changwon SSG Landers on the 10th. However, the junior, who is two years younger, filled the gap beautifully.

Ryu Jin-wook's injury is due to chronic elbow pain. NC manager Lee Ho-joon said, `Originally, there is a bone in my elbow, which often causes pain as it goes around.'




Ryu Jin-wook has been in pain for about a month, and as his symptoms have intensified recently, he was eventually excluded from the first-team entry.

However, NC scored a dramatic 5-4 come-from-behind victory against SSG on the same day, hitting '8th inning of promise'.

Kim Jin-ho took the mound in the top of the ninth inning, one point ahead. NC chose to turn the setup man to the end according to the standard.




He caught Oh Tae-gon, the first batter, with a fly ball to right field, and allowed Choi Jung to walk straight. He struck out Han Yu-seom, but in the process, he gave up a steal to pinch runner Ahn Sang-hyun and was on the verge of tying the game with two outs and second base.

Still, he made his first save this season by groundering the last Ko Myung-joon to third base. It was Kim Jin-ho's second career save, and it was the joy of his save, which he tasted for the first time in 1,196 days since the match against Daejeon Hanwha on June 2, 2022.

The joy of meeting again after 1196 days! Elbow pain, waiting, chronic finish, injury break → I will protect the determination team of the junior who took on the heavy responsibility
Kim Jin-ho pitches in the bottom of the seventh inning. Reporter Jung Jae-geun cjg@sportschosun.com
After the game, Kim Jin-ho said "When the (save) situation comes, we go out in the ninth inning." I thought the role of protecting the team's victory was the same regardless of when I played (even if it was not the eighth inning but the ninth inning). I didn't think much differently"I looked back.




"I took the mound in a save situation from the first game (since I took charge of the closing game), and I'm fortunate to be able to keep the victory with defense help," he said. "I think it's most important for the closing pitcher to minimize his on-base presence." Until (Ryu) Jin-wook returns, I will prepare well to protect the team's victory as much as possible."

Meanwhile, Ha Joon-young, who took the lead in relief in the eighth inning with two outs and runners on the first and second bases, became a lucky winning pitcher. It has been 878 days since the match against Incheon SSG on April 16, 2023.

With the victory, NC maintained its seventh place, two and a half games behind the fifth-place Samsung Lions, and did not give up hope for fall baseball. Lee Woo-sung, who hit the final hit, also expressed his intention to run until the end, saying, `It's not over yet until it's over.'





This article was translated by Naver AI translator.