"There are still 50 games left"… Hanwha Eagles vs. Samsung Lions: Koo Ja-wook's 5 RBIs power an 11-6 comeback win

Samsung beat Hanwha 11-6 in Daegu on August 15 for their third straight win. Koo Ja-wook went 3-for-5 with 5 RBIs, and the gap to first-place kt narrowed to 0.5 games.

Translated from Korean with AI assistance. Read the original. Sources and original publication dates are retained.

The Daegu mound was empty before the top of the 1st inning was even over. A pitch from Samsung starter Yang Chang-seop headed toward the head of Hanwha's No Si-hwan, and the umpire immediately signaled an ejection. According to a Money Today report, it happened a little over 15 minutes into the game. Just two weeks earlier, this was a team that had collapsed to 2 wins and 6 losses in 8 games and was slipping out of the race for first place. That team scored 11 runs on this day.

Hanwha Eagles vs. Samsung Lions: From a 1st-inning ejection to 11-6

Samsung withstood a game in which the starter disappeared in the 1st inning by using its entire bullpen. Left-hander Lee Seung-hyeon (24), who was rushed onto the mound, pitched 5⅔ innings, allowing 2 hits, no walks and 1 run with 7 strikeouts — the day of a pitcher who had a 7.00 ERA, as Newspim reported. After the game, manager Park Jin-man said, "Lee Seung-hyeon (the left-hander), who had to pitch unexpectedly, took on a long stretch of innings and delivered his best pitching."

The lineup responded from the 1st inning. Koo Ja-wook's two-run homer came first, and in the 6th inning Choi Hyung-woo (42) added a three-run homer. In the 7th inning Hanwha took a 6-5 lead on three home runs, but, according to Gukje News, Samsung immediately scored 3 runs in the same inning to retake the lead. Another 3 runs in the 8th inning stretched the score to 11-6. Manager Park said, "Lee Seung-min, who was pitching a third straight day, must have been tired, but he shut them down well."

Koo Ja-wook's batting average hits 0.357; 8 hits in 10 at-bats over two days put him in 1st place

The numbers speak first. On the 14th: 5-for-5 with 2 home runs and 3 RBIs. On the 15th: 3-for-5 with 1 home run and 5 RBIs. Over the two days, that is 8 hits in 10 at-bats with 3 home runs and 8 RBIs. According to the official KBO records room (August 16, 2026), Koo Ja-wook's season stats are, in 86 games, a 0.357 batting average, 117 hits, 13 home runs and 81 RBIs. His average, which was 0.343 and in the top three in the August 10 report, became sole first place after the two-day explosion.

2026 KBO Batting Average Rankings TOP 7 (Qualified Hitters, as of August 16, 2026)

Rank	Player	Team	AVG	Hits	HR	RBI
1	Koo Ja-wook	Samsung	0.357	117	13	81
2	Reyes	Lotte	0.354	148	13	74
3	Choi Won-jun	kt	0.346	139	8	55
4	Park Seong-han	SSG	0.344	137	4	56
5	Austin	LG	0.337	137	32	99
6	Park Min-woo	NC	0.329	111	6	53
7	Kim Ji-chan	Samsung	0.324	108	0	30

His lead over second-place Reyes is only 0.003. According to the official KBO records room, Koo Ja-wook's career batting average was reported as 0.321. He was also reported to have reached 1000 career runs, 28th in KBO history, with a home run against KIA on May 16 this year. As for the player himself, when asked about the title, he drew the line: "There are still 50 games left."

Koo Ja-wook (33, born February 12, 1993) is a one-club man for Samsung, who joined as the 12th overall pick in the 2nd round in 2012. He was the 2015 Rookie of the Year and a 4-time Golden Glove winner. The non-FA multi-year deal he signed in February 2022, worth a 5-year total of 12 billion won (guaranteed salary of 9 billion, options and incentives of 3 billion), is in its final year. With him becoming eligible for free agency for the first time in his career after the season, Dailian projected that his market value will rise sharply.

Hanwha Eagles standings: three straight losses leave them 6 games behind 5th-place KIA

This one game shook the standings at both the top and the bottom. Before the game, kt stood at 61 wins, 2 ties and 38 losses and Samsung at 61 wins, 2 ties and 41 losses, a gap of 1.5 games. After the game, Samsung moved to 62 wins, 2 ties and 41 losses (win percentage 0.602), cutting the gap to 0.5 games (as of 00:00 on August 16, 2026). A team that had slumped to 2 wins and 6 losses in 8 games in early August closed one game in a single day.

The other side is heavy. Hanwha, which dropped both games of the Daegu series to a Samsung team led by Choi Hyung-woo (42) and his 6th-inning three-run homer, fell into a three-game losing streak and now stands at 48 wins, 3 ties and 53 losses. Giving back in the same inning the 6-5 lead built on 3 home runs in the 7th was painful. Sports Kyunghyang reported that the gap to 5th-place KIA widened to 6 games, leaving Hanwha behind in the postseason race.

Koo Ja-wook's individual 2026 salary is not covered here because no figure has been confirmed by an official KBO or club announcement. Standings and batting averages fluctuate during the season, and the figures in this article are as of the end of the August 15 game. Both the 0.003 gap between first and second in batting average and the 0.5-game gap to first place are margins that can flip in a single game. Samsung now stand half a game behind the leader, in pursuit.

Related official sites

KBO (Korea Baseball Organization) Official Website — Check schedules, standings and official announcements in one place
KBO Official Records Room — 2026 Individual Batting Records — Batting average rankings and individual stats updated in real time
Samsung Lions Official Website — Game results and team news
kt wiz Official Website — 2026 Team Standings — Standings for the teams in the race for first place

Featured image · Graphic by Whale SV · Background photo: Wikimedia Commons (Neoalpha), CC0