Kia Tigers manager Lee Beom-ho was all smiles.
Kia won 6-4 against the Kiwoom Heroes in the 2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League at the Gocheok Sky Dome on April 24. With the win, Kia clinched the series early with two consecutive victories and improved to 19-7 on the season. The team is now 3-0 against Kiwoom this season.
The game was highlighted by a strong performance from starting pitcher Yoon Young-cheol. He allowed one run on four hits and four walks with four strikeouts in 6⅔ innings. It was his sixth quality start (six innings pitched with three earned runs or less). With the win, Yoon improved to 3-0 on the season.
After the game, Lee Bum-ho said, “We were able to play a good game thanks to Kim Tae-gun’s experienced lead and Yoon Young-cheol’s stable pitches. Yoon Young-cheol did his job very well in the long innings,” Lee said with a satisfied smile.
Jung became the youngest pitcher to reach 100 saves. With the score 6-2 in the ninth inning, Jung took the mound with runners on first and second. She gave up an infield single to Byun Sang-kwon to score one run and Kim Jae-hyun to second, but then struck out Joo Sung-won and got Lee Yong-gyu to ground out to second to end the game.
In doing so, Jung became the youngest pitcher in history to record 100 saves, a record previously held by Lim Chang-yong of the Samsung Lions in 2000. He also became the 19th pitcher in history to record double-digit saves for four consecutive years.
Lee Bum-ho said, “I would like to praise Jung Jung-young for becoming the youngest pitcher to reach 100 saves in the bottom of the ninth inning. Congratulations on achieving the record. I hope she will continue to build more great records in the future,” Lee said.
He also praised the batting lineup’s focus. In the fifth inning, after struggling to get past starter Enmanuel De Jesus, KIA scored one run on a grounder to shortstop by Lee Chang-jin and one run on a triple to right field by Kim Do-young to take the lead. In the next at-bat, Lee Woo-sung doubled to right field to score another run and complete the big inning.
Kia added another run in the eighth inning, capitalizing on Lee’s grounder to shortstop with runners on first and third. Socrates Brito followed with a walk, and Kim Sun-bin and Choi Won-joon added two more runs on consecutive singles.
“We didn’t have much of a chance until the top of the fifth inning because the opposing starting pitcher pitched so well today, but in the top of the sixth inning, our 사설토토 batters showed great concentration. After back-to-back singles by Kim Tae-gun and Kim Ho-ryung, Lee Chang-jin delivered a valuable RBI single, and Kim Do-young and Lee Woo-sung followed with back-to-back RBI singles. The extra run in the top of the eighth inning was also a big factor in our victory.”
Finally, Lee Beom-ho said, “It’s encouraging to see our offense improving with each game. We will continue to build on this momentum. I would like to thank the fans for being with us today,” he said.