Doosan, KIA on the verge of reaching the PS...Samsung's Oh Seung-hwan reaches 400 saves

 

The Doosan Bears and Kia Tigers hang in the balance for a postseason berth. Samsung Lions closer Oh Seung-hwan became the first KBO player to reach the 400-save milestone.

Doosan won a hard-fought 3-2 home game against the LG Twins in the 2023 KBO on Thursday at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul.

With the win, Doosan, which has won three in a row, improved to 74 wins, two ties and 65 losses, clinching a spot in the postseason regardless of the outcome of the remaining games. This is the second year in a row that Doosan has played fall baseball, having last played in 2021. Last year, the team suffered through a number of setbacks and finished in ninth place.

Meanwhile, sixth-place KIA (71 wins, two draws, 69 losses), which did not play on the day, was denied a postseason berth. If Doosan had lost all of its games, including this one against LG, and KIA had won all of its remaining games, it would have been tied for fifth place with 73 points (2 wins, 2 draws, 69 losses) and could have held the tiebreaker to determine the wild card, but Doosan's win completely eliminated that possibility.

The game was never going to be easy for Doosan. They took the lead in the top of the second inning on an infield single by Kang Seung-ho, but gave up a tying solo shot to Austin Dean in the bottom of the inning. In the top of the seventh, Kim Jae-ho's squeeze bunt seemed to solidify the win, but in the bottom of the inning, Lee Jae-won hit a solo shot to tie the game. Fortunately, Doosan seemed to sneak out a win in the top of the ninth thanks to Kang Seung-ho, who hit an RBI single to right field with the bases loaded.

But LG wasn't done yet. In the bottom of the ninth, Hong Chang-ki singled and Moon Sung-joo walked to put runners on first and second with no outs, but Doosan had Kim Myung-shin. He got Austin to fly out to left field and then got Oh Ji-hwan and Moon Bo-kyung to fly out to right and center, respectively, to preserve the win for Doosan. It was also Kim's first career save. LG, which has already clinched first place in the regular season and a direct ticket to the Korean Series, lost its 56th game in a row (85 wins, 2 draws).

At Samsung Lions Park in Daegu, South Korea, Samsung, led by Oh Seung-hwan, defeated the SSG Landers 5-3 to win their final home game. The win was especially significant as Oh earned his 400th career save in the KBO.

Samsung pushed SSG hard from the start of the game. In the top of the third inning, Lee Jae-hyun opened the scoring with a sacrifice fly to left field.

SSG fought back. In the top of the fifth inning, Han Yu-seom hit a triple to right center and Guillermo Heredia followed with a single to right field. In the top of the sixth, Kim Sung-hyun hit a sacrifice fly to center field.

Samsung responded to the blow. In the bottom of the sixth, Kang Min-ho and Ryu Ji-hyuk hit back-to-back RBI singles and Jose Pirela hit a sacrifice fly to center field. In the bottom of the eighth, Lee Sung-gyu hit an RBI triple to right-center field.

Oh Seung-hwan, who came on with the bases loaded in the eighth and induced Choo Shin-soo to ground out to first base to end the inning, took the mound in the top of the ninth. He gave up a leadoff single to Oh Tae-gon, but bounced back by inducing Choi Ji-hoon to fly out to third.

He then gave up another walk to Han Yoo-seom, but retired Eredia and Park Sung-hwan on a fly to right and a fly to left, respectively, to keep the game close. Oh Seung-hwan's 400th career save in the KBO was complete. It was the first time a KBO player reached 400 saves.

Since making his professional debut in 2005, Oh has steadily established himself as one of the KBO's leading closers. He has won the save title six times (2006-2008, 2011-2012, and 2021), the most in KBO history. He also holds the KBO's single-season record for most saves with 47 in 2006 and 2011.

Oh has also played in Nippon Professional Baseball (80 saves) and Major League Baseball (MLB-42 saves). Add it all up, and he has 522 career saves.

Thanks to Oh's performance, Samsung won 61 games, tied one, and lost 81. SSG, which was in sole possession of third place before this game, dropped 안전놀이터 one spot with 65 losses (74 wins, 3 draws) to tie for third place with Doosan, including NC (74 wins, 2 draws, 65 losses), which did not play on this day.

Meanwhile, the Hanwha Eagles, led by Nick Williams (5-for-4, 1 home run, 4 RBI), Moon Hyun-bin (2-for-2, 1 RBI) and Noh Si-hwan (5-for-1, 2 RBI), swept the Lotte Giants 8-0 at Hanwha Life Eagles Park in Daejeon.

With the result, Hanwha, which has 57 wins, six draws and 79 points, will avoid the bottom of the standings regardless of the outcome of its remaining schedule. It's been four years since Hanwha finished ninth in 2019. Kiwoom Heroes (58 wins, three draws and 83 points), who completed their regular season schedule the previous day (13), will have the honor of finishing last. Lotte, which has already clinched seventh place, has 67 wins and 75 losses.