"Boom within 24 hours of returning home" Kim Do-young's 41st home run is insane! Tigers shatter 45-year history and take sole lead in home run race

*This content was translated by AI.

KIA Tigers' Kim Do-young (23) activated his home run power just one day after returning to Korea. In doing so, he etched his name into the 45th-year history of the Tigers as well.

On the 29th, in a home game against the KT Wiz at Gwangju-Kia Champions Field during the 2026 Shinhan SOL KBO League regular season, Kim Do-young started as the third batter and third baseman, drawing a massive arc from his very first at-bat.

This was just one day after returning with gold medals from the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games alongside teammates Sung Young-tak (22) and Park Jae-hyeon (20). Kim Do-young, who returned through Incheon International Airport on the previous day (the 28th), was immediately named in the starting lineup for this game.

On this day, KIA arranged their batting order as Park Jae-hyeon (left fielder) - Kim Ho-ryeong (center fielder) - Kim Do-young (third baseman) - Harold Castro (first baseman) - Na Seung-beom (right fielder) - Kim Sun-bin (second baseman) - Han Jun-su (designated hitter) - Kim Tae-gun (catcher) - Ha Ju-seok (shortstop). The starting pitcher was Adam Ottavino.

In response, KT structured their batting order as Choi Won-jun (center fielder) - Kim Hyun-soo (first baseman) - An Hyeon-min (right fielder) - Sam Hilliard (left fielder) - Jang Seong-woo (designated hitter) - Ryu Hyun-in (second baseman) - Heo Kyung-min (third baseman) - Han Seung-taek (catcher) - Jang Jun-won (shortstop). The starting pitcher was Logan Allen.

The Asian Games members soared from the start. In the bottom of the first inning, leadoff batter Park Jae-hyeon reached base with a single to center field off a cutter on the fifth pitch, despite an unfavorable 0 balls and 2 strikes count. Kim Ho-ryeong struck out swinging, and Kim Do-young stepped up to the plate. Kim Do-young pushed Logan's fastball to the left side at 147 km/h, and the ball flew over the center-right fence at a speed of 172 km/h. It was his 41st home run of the season with a distance of 125 meters.

Kim Do-young's lead-off two-run homer, which gave KIA a 2-0 lead, was also a home run that rewrote Tigers history. With this home run, Kim Do-young set a new record for the most home runs in a single season in Tigers history. The previous record was Tracy Sanders' 40 home runs in the 1999 season.

Along with this, he once again took the lead in the home run race this season. Kim Do-young was called up to the national team while leading the league with 40 home runs through games on the 14th. However, during that time, second-place LG's Austin Dean did not add a single home run, while KT's Hilliard added five, turning the league home run race into a three-way battle.

But as soon as Kim Do-young returned and added a home run, he widened the gap with those in second place to two again.

Meanwhile, KIA quickly lost their lead despite Kim Do-young's lead-off two-run homer. In the top of the second inning, Heo Kyung-min and Jeong Jun-won drew walks, Choi Won-jun reached base with a single to left field, and Kim Hyun-soo hit a go-ahead grand slam off Ottavino, leaving KT leading 4-2 as of the bottom of the second inning.

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*This content was translated by AI.