Samsung Lions Oh Seung-hwan finished his first professional debut with the most individual innings and pitches in a meaningful way.
Oh Seung-hwan started in the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League Kiwoom Heroes game held at Samsung Lions Park in Daegu and recorded 5 hits (1 home run), 6 strikeouts and 3 runs in 5 innings.
At the suggestion of coach Jung Hyun-wook, ‘starter Oh Seung-hwan’ was born. Oh Seung-hwan had a hard time in the bullpen as his pitch dropped. It was a desperate measure to improve his condition. It was a decision that reflected Coach Chung’s experience.
Oh Seung-hwan,안전놀이터 who made his first start after 980 games since his professional debut and 20 years since 2003 when he was a junior at Dankook University, successfully finished.
The long-awaited episode 1 has begun. Seung-hwan Oh seemed to start fresh after catching top hitter Lee Jeong-hoo with a pitcher’s ground ball in three pitches. However, he allowed Park Chan-hyeok a long hit. The 122 km slider on the second pitch was high. He hit a double to left-center. Then, after a full-count match with Kim Hye-sung to the 7th ball, he threw a 133km body slider and allowed a 115m two-run gun that went over the right fence.
Oh Seung-hwan also allowed Russell to hit a double in the middle right, allowing three consecutive long hits. There were no errors after that. He finished the inning with a fast fastball, handling Lee Won-seok as a grounder and Lee Hyung-jong as a center fielder.
Unfortunately, he also lost in the second inning. Lim Byeong-wook and Kim Hwi-jip seemed to have regained a sense of stability by striking out three pitches. However, the fastball hit the ball one after another. Lee Ji-young hit and Lee Jung-hoo hit a double at the right time and conceded an extra run. The second inning was finished by catching Park Chan-hyeok with two balls as a floating ball for the second baseman.
Certainly, as the innings went on, he seemed to find a sense of stability. After allowing Kim Hye-seong, who allowed a home run in the first at-bat in the 3rd inning, with a ground ball to second base, Russell was treated as a floating ball in right field. Then, Lee Won-seok also struck out and made a tripartite inning.
In the 4th inning, Seunghwan Oh struck out after a full count match with Hyungjong Lee. Then, against Lim Byung-wook, he threw only a breaking ball and struck out on a swing. Kim Hwi-jip caught it with a first baseman foul fly.
He completed three consecutive innings of triplets. In the 5th inning, the first batter, Lee Ji-young, was blocked by the pitcher’s ground ball, and Lee Jung-hoo was guided to the catcher’s ground ball with one ball. Park Chan-hyeok threw three balls in a row, but soon dragged him to a full count, and struck out by inducing a miss with the slider.
The total number of pitches was 73. On May 26, 2005, he recorded the highest number of pitches with 59 in the Munhak SK match, setting a new record in 18 years.
The same goes for innings. The previous most innings was 4 innings against Daegu Hyundai on July 2, 2005.
Oh Seung-hwan, 40 years, 9 months, 18 days old, set a new record for the oldest starting pitcher, surpassing Park Chan-ho (38 years, 9 months, 13 days), who started against Cheongju Doosan on April 12, 2012.
Excluding players who returned from overseas, the previous record was held by Jeon Yoo-soo (32 years, 6 months, 20 days). It was the oldest starter on June 18, 2019 as part of KT, but it was broken this time.