Minnesota Twins relief pitcher Go Woo-suk delivers to Los Angeles Angels second baseman Vaughn Grissom in the eighth inning at Target Field in Minneapolis on July 11.YONHAP
Go Woo-suk recorded his first career MLB hold on Saturday, just two days after making his long-awaited big league debut, as the Minnesota Twins defeated the Los Angeles Angels 5-3 at Target Field in Minneapolis.
Go entered in the top of the eighth inning as the third pitcher with Minnesota leading 5-3, throwing one inning in which he allowed one hit and one walk but surrendered no runs. The Twins held on to win 5-3. A hold is awarded to a relief pitcher who enters with a save situation and maintains the lead.
Go retired leadoff batter Vaughn Grissom on a flyout to right field, then walked Jo Adell following a video review. He induced a groundout from Wade Meckler to second base, catching Adell at second, but gave up an infield single to Denser Guzman that put runners on first and second. Go escaped the jam by getting Logan O'Hoppe to line out to shortstop to end the inning. He threw 21 pitches, 13 for strikes, with a top fastball velocity of 155 kilometers per hour (96 miles per hour).
It was a rapid turnaround for Go, who made his MLB debut against the Cleveland Guardians on Thursday, becoming the 30th Korean-born player to appear in the major leagues. Pitching in the ninth inning of a 4-2 deficit at Target Field, Go opened his account cleanly — getting Daniel Schneemann to ground out to first on a sharp splitter. But then he gave up a solo home run to Patrick Bailey on a flat slider that cleared the right-field wall, his first hit and first run allowed in the majors arriving at the same painful moment.
Go steadied himself. He battled Steven Kwan through a 10-pitch at-bat before striking him out on a splitter, then retired Travis Bazzana on a groundout to first with a four-seam fastball. He finished the game with a line of one inning, one hit, one home run, one strikeout and one run allowed on 18 pitches, 12 of them strikes — with no walks, an encouraging sign in his first big league outing.
Go Woo-suk throws to the Cleveland Guardians in the ninth inning in his MLB debut at Target Field in Minneapolis on July 9.YONHAP
Go joined Minnesota on June 6 via a cash trade from the Detroit Tigers, immediately joining the 26-man roster under a contract clause that guaranteed him a spot on the active roster upon any trade. Minnesota cleared bullpen space by optioning Cody Laweryson to Triple-A on June 8 and called Go up two days later.
Meanwhile, Go's brother-in-law Lee Jung-hoo, an outfielder for the San Francisco Giants, went hitless in three trips to the plate as San Francisco beat the Colorado Rockies 4-2. Lee grounded out to first in the third inning, struck out in the fifth and reached on a fielding error by the third baseman in the seventh, but was thrown out at second on a double play. His season batting average dropped to .306.
BY KO BONG-JUN, SONG JI-HOON [lee.jian@joongang.co.kr]
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
