'Kim Do-young, come out!' KT's Hilliard blasts a 41st home run with a massive 125-meter shot! From 10 home runs in September to tying for the lead on the first day of October

*This content was translated by AI.

Kim Do-young's (23, KIA Tigers) top spot in the home run race is no longer safe. Sam Hilliard (32, KT Wiz), who hit a whopping 10 home runs in September alone, kept his cannon firing on the first day of October and finally climbed to a tie for the lead in home runs.

Hilliard came out as the starting fourth batter and left fielder in the away game against the KIA Tigers at Gwangju-Kia Champions Field on the 1st, where he hit his 41st home run of the season during the 2026 Shinhan SOL KBO League regular season.

He struck out in his first two at-bats but did not miss his third opportunity. Leading off the top of the fifth inning with KT up 4-2, Hilliard let a slider and a forkball from Hwang Dong-ha pass by. When the third pitch, a 131 km/h slider, came in on a 2-and-0 count right down the middle, he swung without hesitation.

The result was a massive hit that could be felt as a home run the moment it was struck. The ball sailed well over the center field fence, with a distance of 125 meters recorded. It marked his second consecutive game with a home run. Hilliard had also hit a tie-breaking two-run homer over the right-center fence in the top of the seventh inning against KIA on the previous day (September 30) while trailing 0-2 with one out and a runner on first base. With that 40th home run of the season, he had taken sole second place by passing Austin Dean (LG, 39), only to take another step forward just one day later. With 41 home runs, Hilliard tied Kim Do-young for the lead in the home run category.

His pace is terrifying. As of the 8th, Hilliard had recorded 32 home runs. At that time, he was quite far behind Kim Do-young in the home run race. However, he began accumulating home runs explosively upon entering September. He did not stop during the Asian Games period either. From the 14th to the 28th, while Kim Do-young was called up to the national team, Hilliard added five home runs in 10 games, closing in on his rival's heels. On the 24th of last month against the Suwon NC Dinos, he hit his 39th home run of the season, narrowing the gap with Kim Do-young to just one.

Kim Do-young did not sit idle either. The very next day after returning from the national team, on the 29th of last month against KT, he hit a two-run homer for his 41st of the season, pulling ahead by two again. It was a shot that also set a new single-season record for most home runs in Tigers history. However, it took only two days for that gap to disappear.

The reason Hilliard's long balls are even more frightening is their high value. His 40th home run the previous day was a tie-breaking two-run homer that instantly turned a game he was losing 0-2 into a draw. KT then secured a 3-2 comeback victory with Kwon Dong-jin's go-ahead solo homer in the ninth inning. On this day as well, Hilliard added a solo homer immediately after KT flipped the score to 4-2, completely seizing the momentum. In September alone, Hilliard hit 10 home runs and drove in 27 runs, while KT also surged with a record of 17 wins, 1 draw, and 6 losses during the same period to climb into first place.

<© STARNEWS. All rights reserved. No reproduction or redistribution allowed.>

*This content was translated by AI.