‘Japanese independent leaguer’s fantastic pitching impresses coach Lee Sung-yong

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3 min readJun 2, 2024

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“I was impressed with the way he pitched.”

It was a complete game win. It was a game that impressed the commander. SSG Landers head coach Lee Sung-yong was full of praise for everyone from starting pitcher Keisho Shirakawa to Choi Jung, who came through with two home runs, to Ko Myung-joon, who came out of the gate with a cannon.

SSG, led by Lee, pounded four home runs in a 9–0 rout of the Kiwoom Heroes in the 2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League at the Gocheok SkyDome in Guro-gu, Seoul, on Monday. The win was SSG’s third straight, improving their record to 28 wins, 28 losses, and one tie for fifth place with the NC Dinos, who defeated Lotte on the same day.

The hero of the game was starting pitcher Keisho Shirakawa, the KBO’s first foreign player import from the Japanese Independent League. Shirakawa, who made his KBO debut, pitched five innings of three-hit ball with four walks and six strikeouts to earn the win. Shirakawa became the first Japanese national to earn a win in his KBO debut.

The offense also came through with home runs when needed. Choi Jung-jeong, the KBO’s leading hitter, hit a two-run homer in the first inning and a three-run shot in the fifth, while Go Myung-joon hit a two-run shot in the fifth and Park Sung-han hit a two-run shot in the sixth.

Lee was equally pleased.

“We were able to win three straight games thanks to Shirakawa’s strong pitching and four home runs,” he said after the victory, “First of all, congratulations to Shirakawa for his first KBO win. “First of all, congratulations to Shirakawa for his first win in the KBO League. He must have been nervous and shaky for his first start, but he pitched with a lot of confidence,” he said. “As the innings went on, he showed steady pitching and crisis management skills. I’m looking forward to his next start.” If all goes according to plan, Shirakawa will start an away game against Lotte on July 7th.

Lee also thanked the SSG front office for finding Shirakawa. “Elias was injured and we were in a crisis, but the international scouts and the front office moved quickly. I really want to say thank you,” he said.

Choi’s two home runs in the first and fifth innings were also noteworthy. “(Choi’s) two home runs were 스포츠토토 crucial to the win,” Lee said, “Congratulations to him on his record. And (Go) Myung-joon-yi had a welcome home run. It was a game where the team colors came out.”

Choi added five more RBIs on the day, giving him a total of 1501 RBIs in the KBO, passing Lee Seung-yeop for second place on the KBO’s all-time RBI list (KIA’s Choi Hyung-woo has 1588). Choi also drove in two runs on the day, extending his own KBO record for most runs scored to 1,400. It was Go Myung-joon’s first home run in 35 days since April 27 against KT.

“It was a good thing that we saved the bullpen thanks to the big lead (early),” Lee said, “and we’ll try to finish the last game of the week well tomorrow (April 2).”

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