'Ended it in just one pitch!' Sato, who got Kim Do-young, makes KBO postseason history as first foreign pitcher to record a 'one-pitch' save → Following Lee Kang-cheol in 1996 and Han Hyun-hee in 2014, the third in career history

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Just one pitch was enough. Sato of the Samsung Lions protected his team's victory with a single ball from a desperate crisis that had come within striking distance, becoming the protagonist of a historic record in KBO League postseason history.

Samsung secured a narrow 6-4 victory over the KIA Tigers in Game 3 of the 2026 Shinhan SOL KBO Postseason Playoffs (best-of-five series) held at Gwangju-KIA Champions Field on the 29th. With this, Samsung took the series lead with a record of two wins and one loss, leaving only one win away from advancing to the Korea Series.

The highlight of the game was the final moment of the bottom of the ninth inning. Leading 6-4 in the bottom of the ninth, Samsung brought in Kim Tae-hoon to nail down the victory. Although Kim Tae-hoon recorded two outs first, he allowed a line-drive single to Park Jae-hyun and then issued a walk to pinch hitter Han Jun-su, instantly creating a tie-breaking crisis with two outs and runners on first and second.

Stepping into the batter's box was 'KIA's closer' Kim Do-young, in a situation where one home run could have turned the game around. At the moment when the cheers at Champions Field reached their peak, the Samsung bench made no hesitation in executing a pitching change. The fireman who took the mound was Sato.

Amid breathless tension, Sato's first pitch drew Kim Do-young's bat. However, the batted ball deflected weakly as a ground ball toward third base, and the third baseman calmly fielded it and threw to first base, putting the final period on the victory.

With this, Sato recorded the third 'one-pitch save' in postseason history and the first by a foreign pitcher. It is a tie for the record of the fewest pitches thrown for a save in postseason career history.

In the history of autumn baseball, the one-pitch save is a rare record that has occurred only twice. Lee Kang-cheol, currently the manager of the KT Wiz, first achieved it while playing for the Haitai Tigers in Game 5 of the Korea Series against the Hyundai Unicorns held at Jamsil on October 22, 1996, and Han Hyun-hee (currently with the Lotte Giants) took over the baton 18 years later in Game 1 of the Playoffs against the LG Twins held at Mokdong on October 27, 2014.

And in the autumn of 2026, 12 years later, Sato added his name to the lineage of 'one-pitch saves' as the third in history and the first foreign pitcher in KBO postseason history. Sato's single pitch, which saved the team from a cliff-edge crisis and led them to the doorstep of the Korea Series, has become a legend of autumn baseball.

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*This content was translated by AI.View Original