After recording more than 300 saves over 11 years in Asia, South Korean reliever Oh Seung-hwan now has a save in the majors.
The South Korean right-hander for the St. Louis Cardinals picked up his first big league save Saturday (local time) against the Milwaukee Brewers at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. Oh threw a perfect ninth inning and struck out two batters to preserve a 3-0 victory.
Oh is 2-0 for the season and lowered his ERA from 1.58 to 1.54.
Oh is the all-time saves leader in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) with 277 saves over nine seasons with the Samsung Lions. He moved to the Hanshin Tigers in the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) and recorded 80 more saves in two seasons there.
He began his first major league season as a setup man for All-Star closer Trevor Rosenthal. Rosenthal, however, struggled mightily with his command all season and forced manager Mike Matheny to remove him from the job.
Matheny at first didn't single out a pitcher to replace Rosenthal, saying he would take a closer-by-committee approach with Oh, Kevin Siegrist and Jonathan Broxton. However, Oh has pitched in the ninth inning in non-save situations after Rosenthal lost the closing job, indicating the South Korean would get the bulk of save opportunities.
Oh had looked shaky in those outings, but when the chance to record a save finally arrived, he pounced on it.
He struck out Jonathan Lucroy swinging on a 1-2 slider. Chris Carter then grounded out to second. Oh finished off the game by striking out Kirk Nieuwenhuis on a 3-2 changeup.
Oh is the second player to record a save in the KBO, the NPB and the majors. Shingo Takatsu of Japan was the first to do so, with 286 saves in the NPB, 27 in the majors and eight in the KBO. He also has a save in Taiwan.
Oh is also the first South Korean to save a major league game since Park Chan-ho did so for the Los Angeles Dodgers in August 2008.
Oh has struck out 55 batters while walking 11 in 41 innings this year. (Yonhap)