Samsung’s Lee Seung-yeop ties Korean home run record

Lee Seung-yeop of the Samsung Lions on Saturday tied the career home run record in South Korean professional baseball.

In the Korea Baseball Organization action in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, Lee launched his 351st career home run off Lee Jae-hak of the NC Dinos in the top of the eighth.

Lee, 36, has now pulled even with Yang Joon-hyuk, who retired in 2010 after 18 seasons.

Despite Lee’s home run, a solo shot, the Lions lost the game 8-3.

Lee is playing in his 11th season in the KBO, all of them with the Lions.

He made his debut in 1995 and spent eight seasons in Japan, from 2004 to 2011, before rejoining the Lions in 2012.

This was Lee’s 1,321st game of his KBO career. Yang needed 2,057 games to reach 351. Lee owns the KBO record for most home runs in a season with 56, set in 2003.

He is the only KBO player to hit at least 50 homers in two different seasons, having belted 54 long balls in 1999. (Yonhap News)