First Save by ‘Doctor K’, Bong Jung-Keun.

Bong Jung-Keun(23), the young gun of the Atlanta Braves, got the first save since his debut in the Major League. He struck out five in three innings with wonderful pitching.

Bong Jung-Keun took the mound yesterday in the 7th inning when the Atlanta Braves was leading the game by 12-2 on its home ground Turner Field against the Cincinnati Reds. Bong struck out the fist batter Addam Dunn, the top of the home runs (18 home runs) and then after giving a four ball, he struck out next two batters consecutively. Although he gave an infield ground ball in the 8th inning, Bong could strike out 5 batters out of 6 out counts during the 2 innings as he struck out another 2 batters in the 8th inning.

Bong gave a one point to the Cincinnati Red in the 9th inning with a double and a wild pitching, am infield ground ball. But could save the game with 1 hit, 1 four ball, 1 losing point. His season record is now 4 wins, 1 save with average error 3.90.

Atlanta could win the game with the big margin of 15-3 and Atlanta even offered a spectacle of blasting two home runs consecutively by the first batter Rafael Furcal, the second batter Mark DeRosa and the third batter Gary Sheffield in the top of the 1st inning. It marked the second time a team had begun a game with three consecutive homers.

Choi Hee Seop of the Chicago Cubs was the fourth batter against the Pittsburgh Pirate and recorded 1 hit out of 3 with one point.

He was the first batter in the second inning when his team was losing the game by 0-2. Choi hit a shortstop ground ball and ran as fast as he could recording a infield hit. The coaching staff of Pittsburgh Pirate, however, insisted Choi was out, so the game was temporarily stopped. Choi’s hit was a critical to the Cub’s victory as Damian Miller could hit a a three-run home after 2 outs leading the Chicago Cubs to a 5-4 victory Wednesday over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Damian Miller

Meanwhile, Choi (Picture) got the most votes as a new figure in the National League as he got 85,056 votes from the first total of All Star votes which was announced by the Major League yesterday.

Choi was the only one in the top 5 among the new figures of the National League from the vote. The All Star Fan Vote is now being held on the major league official site, www.mlb.com and Barry Bonds, the king of home runs, of the San Franscico Giant is on the top of the voting with 238,782 votes.

Sang-Soo Kim ssoo@donga.com