Korean Major Leaguers Kang, Oh face off in Pittsburgh

Number "16" has become a figure of happiness for two Korean Major Leaguers. Kang Jung-ho (29) of the Pittsburgh Pirates hit his 16th homer of the season off pitcher Oh Seung-hwan (34) of the St. Louis Cardinals. Undaunted nonetheless, Oh went on to keep his team’s 16th win for this season.

The two players had a showdown at PNC Park, the home ground for Pittsburgh on Tuesday local time. Oh took the mound in the bottom of the ninth inning with his team leading 9-6. The Cardinals’ closing pitcher gave a strikeout to his first batter and a groundout towards the second base to his second batter, faced Kang Jung-ho with two outs and no runners. Oh garnered two strikes first, but Kang swung Oh’s fourth pitch, a fastball (154 kilometers per hour), to hit a homer over the central fence. The flying distance measured 134 meters. Oh gave a strikeout to the next batter, Adam Frazier (25), and managed to post a save in the end.

Oh looked puzzled as if he did not expect that the hit would cross over the fence. It was the first time Kang Jung-ho had a hit off Oh Seung-hwan in the Major League. In their two previous showdowns, Kang was out after hitting outfield flies. Oh also gave a hit to Choo Shin-soo (34) of the Texas Rangers on June 18. In this season’s Major League, Korean players encountered each other as pitcher and batter only four times, including three with Kang, and one with Choo. In cumulative total, Tuesday’s face-off between Kang and Oh was the 19th duel.

The first time when two Korean players faced off as pitcher and batter in the Major League was April 14, 2004. At the time, pitcher Kim Sun-woo (39) of the Montreal Expos faced Choi Hee-sup (37) of the Florida Gators, and gave the latter a fly to the leftfield to win in the showdown. On July 10 the same year, Choi Hee-sup faced Seo Jae-ung (39) of the New York Mets, his senior alumnus from Gwangju Jeil High School, and hit the first homer ever in showdowns between Korean Major Leaguers as batter and hitter. On Oct. 1, 2006, Choo Shin-soo, who played for the Cleveland Indians, also had a homer off Seo Jae-ung .