Pitcher Lim sets record for most saves by S. Korean in Japan

SEOUL, May 3 (Yonhap) -- South Korean pitcher Lim Chang-yong of the Tokyo Yakult Swallows set the record for most saves by a South Korean pitcher in the Japanese league on Tuesday.
Right-hander Lim notched his third save of the season against the Chunichi Dragons at home, throwing one perfect inning in the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) action. That gave Lim 99 saves for his Japanese career.
Sun Dong-yol, a former closer for Chunichi, recorded 98 saves from 1996 to 1999, after a successful career in South Korea.
Lim, 34, joined the Swallows prior to the 2008 season, after spending 13 seasons in South Korea's Korea Baseball Organization (KBO). Lim set his NPB career-high with 35 saves in 2010. He has shed his earned run average (ERA) and increased his strikeout totals in each of the past three seasons.
Lim re-signed with the Swallows with a two-year deal plus a club option for the third, worth a total of 1.5 billion yen (US$18.5 million).
Lim led the KBO in saves in 1998, 1999 and 2004. But he underwent reconstructive elbow surgery, commonly known as Tommy John surgery, in 2005.
After the procedure, Lim missed most of 2006 and was ineffective in 2007, leading most South Korean clubs to believe he was finished. But the Swallows' gamble has paid off so far.
Lim is one of five South Koreans in the NPB this year, along with ex-major league pitcher Park Chan-ho and Lee Seung-yeop of the Orix Buffaloes, former major league All-Star Kim Byung-hyun of the Rakuten Golden Eagles, and first baseman Kim Tae-kyun of the Chiba Lotte Marines.
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