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Choi becomes No. 468...Jung becomes youngest 100-save pitcher
Choi Jeong-jeong (37-SSG) hit his 468th career home run against Lotte at Sajik Baseball Stadium in Busan on Thursday. He surpassed Lee Seung-yeop (467, now manager of Doosan) to become the KBO League's all-time record holder for most career home runs by an individual. Choi, who joined SSG's predecessor SK in 2005 and is now in his 20th year as a professional, has become the league's all-time home run king through hard work and consistency, if not flamboyance.
Choi started the game as the No. 3 hitter and with two outs in the top of the fifth inning, he took a first-pitch pitch from Lotte starter Lee In-bok over the left field fence for a one-run home run. He took a 127-kilometer-per-hour slider from Lee In-bok. It traveled 110 meters at 153.3 kilometers per hour and cleared the fence. It was his 10th home run of the season and 468th of his career.
Choi's ninth home run of the season and 467th of his career tied him with Lee Seung-yup, but he was hit in the left ribs by a fastball in a home game against Kia on April 16 and had to be taken to the ground. Luckily, a medical examination revealed a simple bruise rather than a microfracture, and after five games off, he hit his historic home run on the 23rd after a rainout. His closest competitor among active players is third-place KT Park Byung-ho (38-380), who is unlikely to overtake him due to his age and gap.
With this home run, Choi also set a new record for double-digit home runs in 19 consecutive seasons. Before the game, SSG coach Lee Sung-yong said, “I think Choi will hit a home run today,” and he was right. After the game, Choi said, “If there's something fun (in baseball), I want to do well, so I've worked hard to get here.” “I was worried that I wouldn't be able to play baseball because of the home run record, but I'm glad I achieved it sooner than I thought,” he said.
On the same day, SSG celebrated the record with a thrilling 12-7 victory over Lotte. The two teams went back and forth in the early going. Lotte scored two runs in the bottom of the first inning, but SSG took a 4-2 lead in the top of the second with four consecutive RBI singles from Lee Ji-young to Choo Shin-soo. With the hit, Choo Shin-soo reached the 2,000-hit milestone in Korean-American history.
In the bottom of the third inning, Lotte exploded for five runs. Hwang Sung-bin led off the inning with a triple and then took advantage of a throwing error to drive home two runs with a ground ball. Jeon Jun-woo, Son Ho-young, and Han Dong-hee followed with RBI singles to make it 7-4. In the top of the fifth inning, Choi Jeong-ho hit a solo home run (468), followed by Han Yoo-seom's back-to-back solo home run (11th of the season) to cut the deficit to 6-7, but SSG scored four runs in the top of the seventh inning on a wild pitch following RBI singles by Park Sung-han and Ko Myung-joon to take a 10-7 lead. SSG scored two more runs in the top of the ninth to seal the win.
In Suwon, Hanwha's Ryu Hyun-jin attempted to reach 100 career KBO wins against KT, but fell short after giving up seven runs in five innings. After a 1-2-3 first inning, Ryu faltered in the third inning when a sharply pitched fastball sailed just outside the strike zone as determined by the ABS (Automated Pitch Recognition System). Ryu then gave up two straight singles before giving up back-to-back hits to KT's Cheon Sung-ho and Kang Baek-ho with runners on first and second. He then induced a wild pitch with runners on first and third, but a throwing error by the first baseman allowed the runner from third to score.
After giving up four runs in the fourth inning on a shaky infield defense, Ryu suffered his third loss of the season, allowing seven runs (five earned) on seven hits with two walks and four strikeouts in five innings. He is 1-3 with a 5.91 ERA in six games. KT beat Hanwha 7-1 for its second straight win. Hanwha has lost four straight.
There was also action in Gocheok, Seoul, where KIA defeated Kiwoom 6-4. Kia closer Jung Hae-young earned his 10th save of the season and became the youngest KBO player to reach 100 career saves at 22 years, 8 months, and 1 day old. It took him 24 years to break the record, which was set by Lim Chang-yong in 2000 at 23 years, 10 months, and 10 days.
In Jamsil, NC avenged the previous day's loss with a 3-1 victory over Doosan. In Daegu, rising Samsung won its fourth straight game with a 6-0 rout of LG, led by Kim Young-woong, who hit his first back-to-back home runs in his professional debut.