First time means more.
Samsung Lions won 3-1 at home against KT Wiz in the 2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League on Thursday at Samsung Lions Park in Daegu, South Korea. It was the third consecutive win and the winning series.
The team achieved a significant milestone on the day. For the first time in the club’s history, the team surpassed 1 million home attendance in a season. The match was attended by a total of 24,435 fans. The total home attendance for the season is now 1,046,889. Samsung is the only non-metropolitan club to reach the 1 million mark in the 2024 season.
Samsung’s home games this year averaged 17,494 fans per game, an increase of approximately 46% from last year’s average attendance of 11,912. Of the 58 games played at home, 17 were sold out.
Samsung also surpassed the previous record of 851,417 fans in a season, which was set when Lions Park opened in 2016. Samsung thanked fans for their support by giving away free ice cream and cool patches to all fans who visited Lions Park on the day. The team is also planning a fan appreciation main event to celebrate the 1 million attendance milestone. More fan services will be offered throughout the remaining 15 games.
Speaking ahead of the game, Samsung head coach Park Jin-man said, “The weather has been very hot this year. We are grateful that so many spectators came out to see us in such a hot weather,” said Park. ‘The fans’ shouts gave the players a lot of strength. We were a little weak at home at the beginning of the season, but the fans have been very supportive, so the players have tried to show more energy. We are always grateful.”
“We will continue to prepare for the remaining matches to get good results and finish the season well,” Park promised.
Samsung also got the best gift of all: a win. Against KT, Won Tae-in pitched 7⅔ innings of four-hit ball, striking out five and 토토사이트 walking one. It was his 10th quality start of the season (6+ innings, 3 earned runs or less) and 11th win (6).
Totaled 100 pitches (71 strikes). He used a fastball (60), changeup (15), cutter (13), and slider (12). His fastball topped out at 149 km/h. He was followed by Choi Ji-kwang with ⅓ scoreless inning of relief and Kim Jae-yoon with one scoreless inning of relief to earn the save.
At the plate, Kim Ji-chan went 2-for-3 with a double and two RBIs, Koo Ja-uk went 1-for-4 with a double and an RBI, and Kang Min-ho went 1-for-3 with an RBI.
With the score tied at 0-0 in the top of the first inning, Kim Ji-chan drew a walk and Yoon Jung-bin struck out on a three-pitch wild pitch before Koo Ja-uk made it 1-0 with an RBI single to left-center. The score remained 1-1 in the top of the third inning.
The tide turned in the bottom of the seventh inning. KT’s pitcher was Kim Min-soo. Ryu Ji-hyuk led off with a walk and tried to steal second. KT catcher Jang Sung-woo made a throwing error at second base, allowing Ryu to advance to third.
After Lee Jae-hyun struck out swinging, Kim Ji-chan laid down a bunt. Kim Min-soo caught the ball himself, tied up the runner at third with his eyes, and threw to first base. A throwing error made the score 2-1 and Kim advanced to third.
The next batter, Yoon Jung-bin, hit a grounder to second base. Second baseman Kim Sang-soo made a throwing error. Kim Ji-chan came home and Yoon Jung-bin scored from first. Samsung took a 3-1 lead.
“On a day like today, when we had our first one million fans in the club’s history, we couldn’t be happier to repay our fans with a win,” Park smiled.