KIA Tigers left-handed ace Yang Hyun-jong passed Song Jin-woo (retired) to become the KBO’s all-time leader in career starts.
Yang started the 2023 Shinhan Bank Solar KBO League game against SSG Landers at SSG Landers Field in Incheon, South Korea, on Jan. 1 and held the SSG bats scoreless over seven innings, allowing just two hits and a walk. He struck out three.
After being replaced in the eighth inning with a 6-0 lead, Yang picked up his seventh win of the season and the 164th of his career as KIA cruised to a 10-2 victory.
Yang has 166 career wins, 164 of which have come in starts.
In doing so, Yang surpassed Song Jin-woo’s previous KBO record of 163 career starts.
Yang Hyun-jong, who struggled in the second half of the season, was removed from the first-team roster on March 16 to take a break.
After 11 days, Yang returned to the first team on August 26 against the Gwangju Hanwha Eagles, giving up two runs on five hits in six innings with one walk and four strikeouts, tying Song Jin-woo for the 163rd start of his career.
With his performance, Yang tied the record.
The KBO’s all-time record for wins in relief is 210, held by Song Jin-woo.
Yang gave up only one infield hit in the bottom of the first inning. The second and third innings ended with a triple play.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, he faced a crisis. Two batters later, Guillermo Heredia singled to left and Park Sung-il walked to put runners on first and second, but Kim Kang-min induced a grounder to third to end the threat.
Yang did not allow a single batter to reach base from the fifth through the seventh innings.
The KIA bats also showed off their hot hitting, scoring five runs in the fifth inning to lighten Yang’s load.
In the top of the third, Kim Do-young opened the scoring with a double to left-center after Park Chan-ho singled and stole second, and Na Sung-beom followed with a single to left.
In the fourth inning, they scored three runs on two home runs.
In the top of the fourth, leadoff hitter Socrates Brito hit a solo home run (17th of the season) to right-center field, followed by Park Chan-ho’s two-run arch (3rd of the season) over the left field fence.
KIA added a run in the top of the seventh on a Kim Do-young single, a stolen base and a Na Sung-beom RBI single to right.
After reaching 98 pitches in the seventh, Yang Hyun-jong gave way to Jeon Sang-hyun in the bottom of the eighth.
After back-to-back singles in the bottom of the eighth, Jeon threw a wild pitch to put runners on second and third, and when Choi Ji-hoon singled to left field, Socrates made a throwing error, allowing two runners to score.
But he struck out Choi to prevent any further damage.
KIA scored four runs in the top of the ninth to seal the victory.
In the top of the ninth, Park Chan-ho singled, stole second and Kim Do-young walked to put runners on first and second, and Na Sung-beom hit a three-run shot (his 13th of the season) over the right-center field fence.
The next batter, Choi Hyung-woo, followed with a double to right field and came home on Kim Sun-bin’s single to right field and Socrates’ grounder to shortstop, giving KIA a 10-2 lead and putting the game out of reach.
With its sixth straight win, KIA (54 wins, 2 ties, 50 losses) consolidated its hold on fifth place. The gap between them and the sixth-place Doosan Bears (54 wins, 1 tie, 54 losses), who did not play due to rain, is now two games.
KIA’s No. 1-3 hitters Park Chan-ho (5-for-3, 2 RBI, 3 runs scored), Kim Do-young (4-for-3, 3 RBI) and Na Sung-beom (4-for-3, 5 RBI) showed off their bats with three hits apiece.
SSG, which lost its second straight game, failed to close the gap on second-place KT Wiz with 60 wins, one draw and 49 losses.
SSG starter Roenis Elias was unable to handle the red-hot KIA bats, giving up five runs on nine hits (two home runs) in five innings. Elias suffered his sixth loss of the season.
At Gocheok Sky Dome, the Kiwoom Heroes put the chili pepper on the KT Wiz’s rise. Led by Lim Byung-wook’s home run, they won 6-2.
With the victory, Kiwoom won their second straight game and moved to 49 wins, 3 draws, and 70 losses on the season. They remain one game behind the Hanwha Eagles in the standings, but are in ninth place in terms of winning percentage.
Second-place KT, which had its five-game winning streak snapped, suffered its 48th loss (63 wins, 2 draws) and widened its gap to 5.5 games over the leaders LG Twins.
Kiwoom’s Lim Byung-wook led the offense with three hits, a home run and three RBIs, while Lee Ju-hyung went 4-for-5 with a double and two RBIs and Song Sung-moon and Kim Tae-jin added multi-hit efforts.
Kiwoom starter Jang Jae-young allowed just one run in 4⅔ innings, but left himself with some work to do as he walked nine.
Ko Young-pyo, who took the mound for KT, suffered a rough outing, giving up six runs on nine hits (one home run) in five innings with three walks and three strikeouts. He suffered his sixth loss of the season (10 wins) and failed to record a quality start (six or more innings and three or fewer earned runs) in 13 consecutive games 바카라사이트.
Kiwoom jumped out to an early lead.
In the first inning, Kim Tae-jin and Song Sung-moon singled to put runners on first and second, and Lee Ju-hyung hit a two-run triple to right-center field.
In the third inning, they completed the big inning.
Song Sung-moon singled and Lee Ju-hyung doubled to put runners on second and third, and Kim Hwijip’s sacrifice fly made it a three-run lead.
Lee Hyung-jong drew a walk to put runners on second and third again, and Lim Byung-wook lifted a 115-kilometer-per-hour changeup from KT’s Ko Young-pyo for a three-run arch (his sixth of the season) over the right field fence.
KT broke the silence in the top of the fourth inning.
After Kim Jun-tae and Shin Bon-ki drew back-to-back walks to start the inning, Choi Jae-dae drove in a run with a single that landed next to the center fielder.
In the top of the seventh, KT capitalized on an Anthony Alford single, a wild pitch and an error to put runners on second and third, and Kiwoom’s Park Seung-ju scored on another wild pitch.
However, KT’s comeback was short-lived.
In the top of the eighth, Shin Bon-ki and pinch-hitter Kim Min-hyuk singled to put runners on first and second, but Alford struck out swinging.
Kim Jae-woong, who took over the mound in the top of the ninth, gave up a single to Hwang Jae-gyun but retired Oh Yoon-seok to end the game.
LG cruised to a 10-0 victory over the Hanwha Eagles at Jamsil Stadium behind a strong pitching performance from Lee Jung-yong and big hits from Kim Hyun-soo and Austin.
It was the second straight win for top-ranked LG (67 wins, 2 draws, 41 losses), which had snapped a three-game losing streak by sacrificing Hanwha the day before.
With another loss, ninth-place Hanwha (42 wins, 6 draws, 60 losses) fell to its lowest point in 72 days with an eight-game losing streak.
LG starter Lee Jung-yong pitched six innings of five-hit ball, striking out five and walking one to secure the win.
It was the second straight quality start for Lee, who earned his sixth win of the season (1-3) after allowing two runs in six innings against the Samsung Lions on March 16.
At the plate for LG, Kim Hyun-soo went 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles, while Austin was 3-for-3 with a double, two RBIs and a run scored.
Hanwha starter Felix Peña was rocked for five runs on five hits with three walks and four strikeouts in five innings to suffer his ninth loss of the season.
The ‘0s broke through in the fourth inning. In the bottom of the fourth, infield singles by Austin Dean and Moon Bo-kyung and a sacrifice bunt by Oh Ji-hwan put runners on first and second, and Park Dong-won’s grounder to third scored Austin from third.
LG added three runs in the fifth inning.
In the bottom of the fifth, Hong Chang-ki doubled and Shin Min-jae walked to put runners on first and second, and Kim Hyun-soo followed with a triple to left-center field to bring both runners home.
Austin followed with a sacrifice fly to center.
In the sixth inning, they exploded for six runs.
In the bottom of the sixth, Moon Sung-joo singled and Park Hae-min walked to put runners on first and second, and Hong Chang-gi singled to right-center.
Shin Min-jae walked to load the bases, and Kim Hyun-soo hit a two-run single to right.
At the plate, No. 8 hitter Kim Hyung-jun (5-for-3, 2 RBIs, 2 runs scored) showed off his power with two home runs.
The tablesetters also stood out. Leadoff hitter Son Ah-seob went 3-for-3 with a home run and two RBIs, while No. 2 hitter Park Min-woo went 3-for-3 with a home run, one RBI and two runs scored.
Samsung starter Choi Chae-heung suffered his fifth loss of the season after giving up four runs on six hits (one home run) in two innings. It was the 10th start of the season for Choi, who returned to Samsung after being discharged from the military in early June, but he is still winless.
NC scored three runs in the first inning to take control of the game.
In the top of the first, Son As-seop singled to right and Park Min-woo walked to put runners on first and second with no outs.
After stealing third, Park Min-woo came home on Kwon Hee-dong’s grounder to shortstop. With two outs, Oh Young-soo followed with a single to left field.
NC added a run in the top of the second when leadoff hitter Kim Hyung-jun hit a solo home run (his third of the season) to left center.
After Tanner pitched a no-hitter to preserve the lead, NC added a run in the top of the sixth on Park Min-woo’s RBI single to left field with runners on first and second, and three more in the eighth to take a commanding 8-0 lead.
In the top of the eighth, leadoff hitter Kim Hyung-jun launched a solo shot over the right field fence.
A walk by Son Asub and a single by Park Min-woo put runners on first and second, and when the next batter, Lee Jae-hwan, grounded into an infield single, the opposing third baseman, Kang Kang-ul, dropped the hard-hit ball into the outfield, allowing Park Min-woo to come home with time to spare.
NC celebrated the victory in the top of the ninth inning when Kim Joo-won hit a two-run shot (his ninth of the season) to the left-center field wall.
Meanwhile, the game between Doosan and the Lotte Giants, which was scheduled to take place at Sajik Stadium, was canceled due to rain. The postponed game will be organized at a later date.