Veteran reliever gets groove back in 1st career start

Following his first professional start, Samsung Lions reliever Oh Seung-hwan has come away feeling better about himself.

After making 979 relief appearances in three leagues -- Korea Baseball Organization, Nippon Professional Baseball and Major League Baseball -- since his debut in 2005, Oh started a game for the first time at age 40 against the Kiwoom Heroes on Wednesday at Daegu Samsung Lions Park in the southeastern city of Daegu.

Lions pitching coach Jong Hyun-wook had talked Oh into starting, as a way of turning around what has been a subpar season for the veteran reliever.

Oh is the all-time KBO saves leader with 374, but he has been removed from the closer role after a particularly rough patch last month, when he surrendered an earned run in four consecutive outings. Oh had been pitching in middle relief since, but Jong and manager Park Jin-man decided Oh would be better served throwing as many pitches as possible across multiple innings in a start, rather than pitching an inning or two at a time out of the bullpen.

Oh's final line was solid: a career-high five innings, three earned runs on five hits, including a home run, with six strikeouts but no walks. Oh threw 73 pitches, 14 more than his previous career high, though the plan was to have him throw between 50 and 60.

"I tried to concentrate on every batter and take it one inning at a time," Oh said. "My pitch count remained relatively low through four innings, and so I talked to coach Jong, and we decided to go another inning there."

The Lions lost the game 4-1, with Oh being charged with the loss after allowing two runs in the top of the first inning.

"I feel bad that I gave up those runs right in the first inning," Oh said. "Pitching in the ninth inning is always tough, but I realized starting a game also comes with a ton of pressure. You have to set the tone early."

On a more positive note, Oh said he felt like he got some of his groove back.

"I felt like my pitches had a little more life to them, compared to times when I was struggling," Oh said.

The right-hander touched 149 kph with his fastball in this game. He came in with an average fastball velocity of 142.6 kph this season, down from 144.7 kph last year.

The Lions announced their plan to start Oh on Tuesday. And the game on Wednesday drew 13,394 fans, an unusually high number for a midweek game and nearly 2,500 more than the Lions' average home attendance for the season.

"I want to thank our fans for showing up in such a big number," Oh said. "It would have been nice if we'd won this game for them. I will try to be better the next time out."

A day after Oh's start, the Lions assigned him to the minor league, where he must spend a minimum 10 days before rejoining the KBO club.

A team official said the move had long been in the plans. After setting a new career high in pitch count, Oh will spend the next couple of days to recover and then pitch a game or two in relief in the second-tier Futures League.

Oh will continue to work his way back into the closer role, the official added.

Oh recorded 80 saves in MLB and 42 in NPB. He is four away from reaching 500 professional saves.

At 40 years, nine months and 18 days old, Oh became the oldest pitcher in KBO history to make a first career start. Former major leaguer Park Chan-ho held the previous mark at 38 years, nine months and 13 days old in 2012.

Park didn't begin his career in the KBO. Among those who started their pro careers here, former KT Wiz pitcher Jun Yu-soo held the previous record at 32 years, six months and 20 days old in 2019. (Yonhap)