Professional baseball player Son Ju-yeong (27) of the LG Twins set a personal record for most strikeouts in a single game.

On the 23rd, Son Ju-yeong started the game against the SSG Landers at Incheon SSG Landers Field, recording 7 innings, 2 hits allowed, 2 walks, 11 strikeouts, and 1 earned run for the win.

After allowing a hit to lead-off batter Choi Ji-hoon in the bottom of the first and giving up a stolen base to second, Son Ju-yeong struck out Park Seong-han. However, he gave a walk to Choi Jeong, and although he caught Ko Myeong-jun with a fly out to right field, the runner on second, Choi Ji-hoon, successfully advanced to third base. Then, with Han Yu-seom at the plate, a wild pitch allowed Choi Ji-hoon to rush home, allowing the first run. Son Ju-yeong ended the inning by striking out Han Yu-seom.

Son Ju-yeong struck out lead-off batter Ahn Sang-hyun in the second inning. He allowed a hit to Jo Hyeong-woo but struck out Oh Tae-gon, and then he got Chae Hyun-woo out on a ground ball to second base. In the third inning, he allowed a walk to Park Seong-han with one out, but he prevented a stolen base, and he struck out Choi Jeong. From the fourth to the seventh inning, he continued a streak of 13 consecutive outs. He added 5 strikeouts.

With LG leading 3-1 in the eighth inning, Son Ju-yeong handed the mound over to Kim Jin-sung and concluded his appearance. LG allowed one run in the ninth but won 3-2. Son Ju-yeong earned his 5th victory of the season, and manager Youm Kyoung-youb achieved his 600th win in KBO League history, becoming the 12th manager to do so.

Son Ju-yeong recorded 99 pitches, utilizing fastballs (46 pitches), curves (27 pitches), cutters (18 pitches), and forks (8 pitches). His maximum fastball velocity reached 149 km/h, and he recorded a strike rate of 66.7%. He showcased an overwhelming pitch ability over 7 innings while actively challenging batters.

After the game, Son Ju-yeong said, "I don’t care too much about the record for most strikeouts in a single game. I want to pitch more innings. I want to be a pitcher who throws 6 or 7 innings each game. The pitchers in Busan really struggled. I thought that I needed to throw long today, but I pitched 24 pitches in the first inning and thought I was in big trouble, but fortunately, I improved afterwards."

After allowing a run in the first inning, Son Ju-yeong regained stability, recording 13 consecutive outs from two outs in the third inning to the seventh. He stated, "After the seventh inning, I still had energy left. Since my breaking ball and fastball control were good, I gained a lot of confidence that the batters couldn't hit it." When asked if he thought about pitching in the eighth inning, he replied, "If it were the Korean Series, I would have pitched. But right now, I have to pitch again in five days," and smiled.

Having struggled in the last 4 games with 14 runs allowed (12 earned runs), Son Ju-yeong stated, "I haven’t been doing well recently, so I changed a lot. I had discussions with the manager and talked a lot with the pitching coach. The manager said my fastball and curve were good, and my slider was okay, but I think I’m having difficulty since I haven’t been throwing my forkball continuously."

"So I decided to learn the forkball again," Son Ju-yeong revealed. "I learned a lot from (Kim) Jin-sung. When I felt it wasn't working, I imitated everything Jin-sung did. For about a week, Jin-sung helped me out, and the manager and coach told me that since I am tall and have a good release point, I should use height variation. They said that with a good release point, having a fastball, a curve, and a forkball will lead to good results."

Son Ju-yeong, who became the winning pitcher in the game achieving manager Youm Kyoung-youb's 600th win, said, "I started off well but then showed a worse performance. I felt sorry for the manager. I want to use today as a stepping stone to show a good performance and I am determined to do better for the rest of the season."

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