'Ryu Hyun-jin's historical milestone → Best friend with a secret shot, Choi Jeong's career 520 home runs bam! 'As expected, he's a monster catching business.' [the scene of Incheon]

*This content was translated by AI.

The monster-catching trade gave SSG Landers the lead. Choi Jung (39) made a painful comeback against "Korean Monster" Ryu Hyun-jin (Hanwha Eagles) of the same age.

Choi Jung-eun started as the third batter and third baseman in the 2026 Shinhan SOL KBO League home game against Hanwha at SSG Landers Field in Incheon on the 7th, and Ryu Hyun-jin's center-field hit a 142km/h fastball at the bottom of the first inning with one out and a ball count of 3-1 on the first base, and hit a 125m come-from-behind two-run home run.

Ryu Hyun-jin, who took the mound with a one-run lead in the top of the first inning as the batters supported the scoring, walked Park Sung-han, the first batter, but struck out Guillermo Herredia with three pitches.

It was Ryu Hyun-jin's 1,500th strikeout in the KBO League. Ryu Hyun-jin, who has struck out 204 since his debut in 2006, achieved the Triple Crown as a pitcher, and won the MVP and Rookie of the Year at the same time, entered the Major League after 2012 Ning and played 11 seasons.

Ryu Hyun-jin, who returned to Hanwha at 17 billion won in eight years in 2024, recorded three-digit strikeouts for two consecutive years even at the age of his late 30s, and finally reached the 1,500 strikeouts mark on the day. It is the seventh KBO league record ever.

It is a milestone created at the beginning of the 10th season of the KBO League. In 2002, he beat Song Jin-woo (36 years, 5 months and 26 days at the time) to become the oldest (39 years and 13 days) and at the same time, surprisingly, he was listed as the main character who achieved the record with the least number of games. This is a great achievement in just 246 games, showing a big difference from Sun Dong-yeol (301 games) in 1994.

But the 'best friend' he met as an enemy didn't even give him a chance to rejoice. Choi Jeong, who came to the batter's box soon after, is one of the most demanding hitters in Ryu Hyun-jin's career, which has been through a lot. Prior to this day, he was strong with 25 hits in 71 at-bats, four homers, and an opposing batting average of 0.352, but there was no room for that day.

Choi Jung also hit a come-from-behind two-run home run against Ryu Hyun-jin, raising the record for the most home runs in KBO history to 520. Lee Seung-yeop (467 home runs) is in second place in his career, and Choi Hyung-woo (43, Samsung, 421 home runs) is in third place, showing a difference of about 100.

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*This content was translated by AI.