By Jang Hyun-gu Kim Kyung-yoon Lee Dae-ho Reporter = Seung-hwan Oh (Samsung Lions) reached the 500-save milestone in Korean-American professional baseball.
Seung-hwan Oh entered the game in the top of the ninth inning of the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League home game against the NC Dinos at Samsung Lions Park in Daegu on June 6 and pitched one inning of one-hit, one-strikeout ball to earn his eighth save of the season.
Oh, who made his professional debut in 2005, now has 378 career saves in the KBO, 42 in Major League Baseball, and 80 in Nippon Professional Baseball.
Oh Seung-hwan, who passed Son Seung-rak (271 saves) for second place on the KBO’s all-time saves list by more than 100, built an immortal save tower that may not be broken anytime soon.
Samsung won 9-6 to close to within 1.5 games of the sixth-place KIA Tigers.
Samsung jumped on NC starter Taylor Widener for four runs in the first inning.
Three consecutive singles put runners on first and second, and then Oh Jae-il blasted a two-run double to the right side of the infield for a quick 4-0 lead.
After NC scored three runs in the top of the third, capitalizing on a bad pitch from Samsung starter Baek Jung-hyun, Samsung virtually sealed the game with a big inning in the fifth to take a 5-3 lead.
With two outs, Lee Jae-hyun and Kim Ho-jae hit back-to-back RBI singles to extend Samsung’s lead to 9-3.
In the bottom of the ninth, Oh Seung-hwan gave up a leadoff single to Son As-seob, but he got the next batter, Seo Ho-cheol, to fly out to second base.
He then induced Jason Martin to ground out to first base and then ran the bases himself to end the game.
LG pounded out 15 hits in the first inning to defeat the Kiwoom Heroes 9-1 at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on June 6.
LG captain Oh Ji-hwan, who had struggled in his last 10 games, came through with a multi-hit game (two or more hits in a game) for the first time in 16 games since March 18 against KT WIZ, going 2-for-4 with four RBIs and one run scored.
Foreign hitter Austin Dean went 4-for-5 with two singles, a double and a triple, and reached base three times in four plate appearances.
Austin hit a leadoff triple in the second inning, 0-0, and scored on Park’s infield grounder for the game-winning run.
LG scored three runs in the fourth inning on back-to-back singles by Austin and Park Dong-won, a sacrifice bunt by Moon Bo-kyung to put runners on second and third, and a sacrifice fly by Kim Bum-seok. LG rookie catcher Kim Bum-seok picked up his first career RBI.
Oh delivered a two-RBI double to left center in the fifth inning for a 4-0 lead, and Moon followed with a two-RBI single to left center in the seventh inning for a 6-1 lead.
Moon also went 3-for-3 with three RBIs.
LG starter Casey Kelly improved to 6-3 on the season with five innings of five-hit ball, three walks and seven strikeouts.
The Doosan Bears defeated the Hanwha Eagles 4-1 at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul.
Doosan’s veteran left-hander, Jang Won-jun, earned his second win of the season after pitching 5 1/3 innings of one-run ball against the Samsung Lions on March 23.
It took him five years to reach the 130-win milestone, but he reached 131 in 14 days.
Doosan took the lead in the bottom of the second inning with a cool two-run shot to right field by Kim Jae-hwan. Kim fired up the cannon for the first time in 20 days since May 17 against the Kiwoom Heroes.
In the third, with the score 2-1, Doosan’s Kim Dae-hyun capped the scoring with a solo shot to left field.
Doosan added a run in the bottom of the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Heo Kyung-min with runners on first and third after two walks and a hit batter.
Hanwha, which matched Doosan with 10 hits, had its last chance in the top of the ninth with two outs after a single and two walks, but Kim In-hwan was thrown out at second base. Hanwha left 12 runners on base.
In Gwangju, SSG rode a strong bullpen to a 2-1 victory over KIA 먹튀검증.
SSG got on the board in the top of the first inning when Park Sung-ho singled up the middle and Choi Jeong-jeong doubled to left center.
Guillermo Heredia followed with a walk, and Ha Jae-hoon sent both runners home with a bases-loaded single that landed in front of the center fielder.
KIA rallied with a solo home run by Park Chan-ho in the fourth, but starter Roenis Elias, who pitched seven scoreless innings, was followed by Noh Kyung-eun, Go Hyo-joon (eighth) and Seo Jin-yong (ninth) to secure the one-run victory.
Seo narrowly escaped a bases-loaded jam in the ninth inning, leaving him one save shy of his 20th of the season.
KIA rookie Yoon Young-chul set new records for most innings pitched (7) and most pitches pitched (99) in a season, but was unable to get any offensive support and suffered his second loss in as many games (3).
In Busan, the KT WIZ defeated the Lotte Giants 4-1 to extend their winning streak to three games.
In a pitcher’s duel between World Baseball Classic (WBC) representatives, Ko Young-pyo (KT) outdueled Park Se-woong (Lotte), who had recently won three straight.
Ko threw seven innings of one-run ball on 87 pitches to extend his winning streak to six games at Sajik Stadium. Park Se-woong also pitched six innings of two-run ball with seven strikeouts, but was saddled with the loss due to a silent batting lineup.
KT scored two runs in the second inning with runners on first and second on a double by Lee Ho-yeon and a sacrifice fly by Choi Jae-dae. They added a run in the seventh on a passed ball and a run in the ninth on Kim Min-hyuk’s RBI single to left.
Lotte trailed 0-2 in the sixth inning before Ko Young-pyo’s wild pitch put runners on second and third with one out.
Eighth-ranked Kiwoom and ninth-ranked KT-Hanwha lined up without a run, setting up a fierce battle for the lead.