2 S. Korean pitchers to start on same day in MLB

▲ In this Associated Press photo, Kim Kwang-hyun of the St. Louis Cardinals pitches against the Chicago White Sox in the bottom of the first inning of a Major League Baseball regular season game at Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago on May 24, 2021. (Yonhap)

▲ In this Getty Images photo, Yang Hyeon-jong of the Texas Rangers pitches against the Los Angeles Angels in the bottom of the first inning of a Major League Baseball regular season game at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California, on May 25, 2021. (Yonhap)

MLB-pitchers

2 S. Korean pitchers to start on same day in MLB

By Yoo Jee-ho

SEOUL, May 29 (Yonhap) -- A pair of South Korean pitchers in the majors will toe the rubber on the same day to begin a new week, hoping to right the ship and close out the month on a high note.

Kim Kwang-hyun of the St. Louis Cardinals and Yang Hyeon-jong of the Texas Rangers will both start Sunday afternoon in the United States, or early Monday in their native country.

Kim will take on the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field in Phoenix at 1:10 p.m. Sunday, or 5:10 a.m. Monday in Seoul.

Yang and the Rangers will visit Seattle to face the Mariners at T-Mobile Park, at the exact same starting time.

Both left-handers have lost their past two starts.

On Monday, Kim gave up three runs in 5 2/3 innings against the Chicago White Sox to fall to 1-2 for the season with a 3.09 ERA.

Yang allowed seven runs in 3 1/3 frames versus the Los Angeles Angels on Tuesday -- the most runs given up by a Texas starter this season -- and is now 0-2 with a 5.47 ERA.

Kim and Yang will be the first pair of South Korean pitchers to start on the same day in the majors since Kim and Ryu Hyun-jin of the Toronto Blue Jays on Sept. 24 last year.

Kim and Ryu both won their starts, too. The previous duo of South Korean pitchers to have done that on the same day were Park Chan-ho of the San Diego Padres and Seo Jae-weong of the New York Mets on Aug. 24, 2005.

Kim, now pitching in his second big league season, hadn't lost any decision before dropping the past two. Kim has yet to complete the sixth inning this year, though he came within an out of doing just that against the White Sox.

Yang, a major league rookie, has a tenuous grip on the starting job, as the Rangers are scrambling to fill in the rotation following injuries to Kohei Arihara (shoulder) and Kyle Gibson (groin).

Kim and Yang, both 33, were MVP-winning starters in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO). Kim is in the final year of his two-year contract. Yang signed a one-year minor league deal with the Rangers in February after leaving a lucrative extension offer from his KBO club, Kia Tigers, on the table.

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