adminSamsung Lions closer Seung-hwan Oh has reached the 500-save milestone for his career in Korea, the United States, and Japan.
Seung-hwan Oh pitched one scoreless inning in relief against the NC Dinos in Game 6 of the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League at Samsung Lions Park in Daegu, South Korea, to earn his eighth save of the season.
With his 378th career save in the KBO, Oh reached 500 saves in his Korean-American career, including 80 in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB-2) and 42 in Major League Baseball (MLB-4). He is the first Korean-American to record 500 saves in professional baseball.
Oh was the fifth pitcher on the mound after Baek Jung-hyun (5 innings), Kim Tae-hoon (⅔ innings), Hong Jung-woo (1⅓ innings), and left-hander Lee Seung-hyun (1 inning). With his team leading 9-6 in the top of the ninth, Oh gave up a leadoff single to Son As-seob, but retired the next batter, Seo Ho-cheol, on a line drive to second base. With two outs, he threw to first base on Jason Martin’s grounder to short for the final out.
Seung-hwan Oh has been the team’s go-to closer since 2005, his first year as a professional, posting double-digit saves in five straight years. In 2007, he set the record for 100 saves in the shortest amount of games (180) in KBO history, and in 2012, he surpassed former Chung-Ang University coach Kim Yong-soo’s 227 saves to become the KBO’s all-time leader in career saves.
After playing in Japan and the United States, Oh returned to the KBO in 2020 and showed off his rusty skills. In 2021 (44 saves), he reached 40 saves in a single season for the first time in a decade.
However, Seung-hwan Oh struggled early in the season and was relegated to the closer’s role. In early May, he had a breakthrough with his “debut” start. Seung-hwan Oh threw 73 pitches in five innings against the Daegu Kiwoom Heroes on May 3, and from that game, he gradually improved.
Samsung manager Park Jin-man, who met with him before the Incheon SSG Landers game on the 1st, said, “I think the end of the ball is much better than before I went down to the second team.” “Before the expungement, my fastball was a little dull, but now the end of the ball is still alive. If the fastball is alive, the changeup will also be alive. I think I can definitely see the aggressiveness.” He also looked at Oh’s rebound positively.토토사이트
Seung-hwan Oh made his first save since returning to the first team against the Changwon NC Dinos last month on May 19, and he also collected one save against the Incheon SSG Landers on May 31 and the Daejeon Hanwha Eagles on June 2, taking one step closer to the record. And he finally made it in front of his home fans.