Victor Reyes tops KBO with record 211 hits

By Yoo Jee-ho

SEOUL, Oct. 12 (Yonhap) -- Victor Reyes of the Lotte Giants topped South Korean baseball in hits for the third consecutive season Monday -- setting a new record with 211 and fending off a hard push from a rival in the process.

The Venezuelan switch hitter collected four hits, including a solo home run, against the Doosan Bears at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul in his final regular-season game Monday.

Reyes previously set the record with 202 hits in 2024. He had 187 hits last year, still good enough to lead the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO).

This year, Choi Won-jun of the KT Wiz reached 203 hits first last Wednesday, but Reyes moved past him at the end to become the first foreign hitter in KBO history to lead the league in hits in three consecutive seasons. Choi finished with 208 after getting three hits Monday.

Reyes and Choi both played Monday night, and fans were treated to an "Anything you can do, I can do better" kind of battle at two different ballparks.

Choi, whose team was facing the Samsung Lions at Daegu Samsung Lions Park in Daegu, some 230 kilometers southeast of Seoul, doubled in the first, and had singles in the fourth and sixth inning.

Over in the capital, though, Reyes stayed ahead of Choi throughout the game. He blooped a single to shallow center in the top second from the left side of the plate, and then got a single from the right side, against left-hander Zach Logue, in the top fourth.

Then facing left-hander Choi Seung-yong in the top sixth, Reyes launched a solo home run to left field.

Reyes capped off his record-setting night with a single from the left side in the top eighth, his hit No. 211. He was soon lifted for a pinch runner and left the field to a rousing ovation from both the Giants and the Bears cheering sections.