Austin Hits 20th Home Run, Joins Kim Do-young in Race for Lead

[Anchor]

The race for the professional baseball home run title is heating up as KIA's Kim Do-young and LG's Austin Dean face off. In a remarkable turn of events, both players hit their 20th home runs of the season today (June 16).

Lee Sung-hoon has the latest.

[Reporter]

LG's Austin took the initiative first.

In the first inning of the away game against KIA, he lifted a curveball from opposing starter Shirakawa and sent it over the left-field fence for an opening solo home run.

Austin became the first player in the league to reach the 20-home run mark this season, recording 20 or more home runs for four consecutive years.

KIA's Kim Do-young, who was tied for the lead, responded immediately.

In his third at-bat in the sixth inning, he connected with an inside fastball from LG starter Wells, launching a massive 130-meter solo home run that cleared the left-field wall by a wide margin.

Kim, who reignited his home run streak after six games, reached the 20-home run mark for the first time in two years, once again tying with Austin for the league lead.

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KT slugger Ahn Hyun-min returned to the field after two months, having overcome a hamstring injury, and marked his comeback with an RBI single to left field in the fifth inning against Doosan.

(Video Editing: Park Jung-sam)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.