Cardinals' Oh Seung-hwan picks up save for 3rd straight day

SEOUL, July 29 (Yonhap) -- The St. Louis Cardinals' South Korean closer Oh Seung-hwan is on a nice little roll.

The closer picked up a save for the third straight day on Thursday (local time) against the Miami Marlins at Marlins Park in Miami, preserving the Cards' 5-4 victory with a scoreless ninth inning. The right-hander now has seven saves in his first big league season.

With the Cardinals nursing a one-run lead, Oh took over from Kevin Siegrist in the bottom of the ninth.

He retired cleanup Giancarlo Stanton on a grounder to second. Marcell Ozuna got an infield single off Oh's body, but the pitcher stayed in the game and got J.T. Realmuto to hit into a game-ending, 4-6-3 double play.

Oh lowered his ERA to 1.69. He leads all National League pitchers with 53 appearances. He has struck out 69 and walked 14 in 53 1/3 innings.

Elsewhere, Kim Hyun-soo of the Baltimore Orioles went 1-for-3 with a walk against the Minnesota Twins at Target Field in Minneapolis, and has hit safely in all three games since returning from the disabled list Tuesday.

Kim has shown no ill effects of a right hamstring strain, and is batting .327 in his rookie season.

jeeho@yna.co.kr
(END)