Lotte Giants’ Jo picks up first win in 2,620 days
After his professional baseball debut in 2005, Jo Jung-hoon had a short but glorious season in 2009.
The right-hander led the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) Leauge in wins with 14 for the Lotte Giants in the regular season and with his crazy forkball, Jo also gave his team a win in the first game of the first playoff round against Doosan Bears.
Though the Giants suffered a first round exit, fans didn’t lose hope as they thought the then 24-year-old would bring a brighter future in the following season.
However, no one would have imagined that it would take 2,620 days for Jo to add a win to his record. After the 2010 season, the young gun had to receive three elbow surgeries over the following seven seasons and made an appearance on the mound as a relief pitcher in a game against the SK Wyverns July 9.
Jo came out to the mound in the eighth inning when the Giants were losing 0-6. Proving his famous forkball is still intact; Jo had a scoreless one inning, striking out two.
Jo made five more scoreless innings in five more games and finally grabbed a win against the league leader Kia Tigers, Saturday. When the score was tied at 0-0, Jo climbed onto the mound in the eighth inning and had his seventh scoreless game, throwing one inning. In the following inning, Andy Burns of the Giants hit a sacrifice fly to score third base runner Na Kyung-min, and closing pitcher Son Seung-lak worked a scoreless ninth inning to complete a 1-0 win.
After taking his first win in seven years, Jo gave credit to his teammate Burns. “I always tried to pitch hard whenever I play, and luckily, I could have a good result thanks to Burns who provided the game-winning RBI,” Jo said.
At Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul, the Bears blasted the Hanwha Eagles 17-1 to climb to third place in standings on Saturday.
Among 18 hits the Bears’ hitters produced, outfielder Park Kun-woo had three hits including two home runs with five RBIs. The Bears’ starter Yoo Hee-kwan had his seventh win of the season, allowing only one run in seven innings.
With the loss, the Eagles remained eighth with 36 wins, one draw and 53 losses.
In Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, the second-place NC Dinos extended their winning streak to five after defeating the Wyverns 8-2.
The Dinos got off to a good start as their first baseman Xavier Scruggs hit a three-run home run in the first inning and veteran slugger Lee Ho-jun went 2-for-4 with two RBIs.
At Gocheok Sky Dome in western Seoul, the 10th-place KT Wiz had its first win after the All-Star break defeating the Nexen Heroes 8-3. A game between the LG Twins and the Samsung Lions in Daegu was canceled due to rain.