He also pitched as relief pitcher. Elijah Hernandez of the LG Twins was still strong on the mound.

Hernandez took the mound as relief pitcher at the top of the eighth inning in the first round of the semi-playoff against KT Wiz in the "2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO Postseason" at Jamsil Stadium on Sunday. He garnered one hit, three strikeouts, no four outs and no run in two innings in the final score of the day, drawing attention. His team lost 2-3 to KT after a close game, but Hernandez's outstanding pitching was eye-catching.

In the top of the eighth inning, when LG was dragged 2-3 by one point, Hernandez took the mound after Kim Jin-sung. Hernandez, who joined LG in the middle of the season and mainly started, is trying to revitalize his position by changing to a relief pitcher due to the unstable team bullpen situation. Hernandez has two games of bullpen experience, but it is not easy to suddenly change positions because starting pitchers and relief pitchers have quite different warming up processes and routines. In fact, Hernandez also complained of shoulder clumping after taking the mound in the bullpen against Suwon KT on August 30.  안전놀이터

Despite various concerns, Hernandez's first KBO League fall baseball ended with an impressive pitch.

He started off shaky ground. Hernandez was rushed to third base with one out after a triple hit by Kim Min-hyuk who hit the right fence after one out in the top of the eighth inning. With KT's runner in the scoring position, Hernandez overcame the crisis by throwing his ball bravely and without shaking. He ended the inning by garnering consecutive swing strikeouts to subsequent batters Mel Rojas Jr. and Jang Sung-woo.

By blocking the top of the ninth inning without losing a point, LG Twins' Hernandez, who dreamed of tying or turning the game around in the bottom of the ninth inning, took the mound once again to maintain the score gap. Likewise, Hernandez displayed overwhelming pitching. He completely blocked KT's tricky central batters, such as No. 4-6. He grounded out Kang to the shortstop and froze Moon with a strikeout. He then treated Oh Yoon-seok to a fly ball to the right field to end the top of the ninth inning.

LG Twins couldn't play in the first round of the semi-playoff due to closer Yoo Young-chan's father's injury. It is possible for LG to play as a starting pitcher from the second round. Kim Jin-seong (1st ⅔ inning), who took the mound on the day, recorded 17 pitches, so he can play in the second round as well. Hernandez also pitched two innings and recorded 27 pitches. Since the number of pitches has not exceeded 30, he will wait in the bullpen for the second round as well. "I use it in the second round as well. The number of pitches was less than 30," Yeom said. LG can operate a more robust bullpen.

"I want to help my team win. And I'm here to win," Hernandez said of his relief appearance in a team training session in preparation for the semi-playoff on the 4th. "To compete in the playoffs, to win the team, you have to sacrifice a certain part. That's the key to throwing the ball with that mindset."

Hernandez, who has shown stable game management as a relief pitcher, will he be able to play his part as a bullpen ace who can ease LG's worries for the rest of the postseason.