Korean slugger Lee Seung-yeop of the Yomiuri Giants in the Japan league hit his 40th homer of the season Monday night (Sept. 18) against the Hiroshima Toyo Carp, ending a homerless stretch with the two-run shot. Yomiuri, however, lost 4-3.

It took Lee seven games to connect after he hit his 38th and 39th homers on Sept. 7 against the Hanshin Tigers.

Lee now has 14 games to go in the 146-game season, eight of them to be played home at Tokyo Dome.

Yomuiri is 61-69, 17.5 games behind the league leading Chunichi Dragons and four games behind the third place Yakult Swallows.

Trailing 4-0 in the fourth inning, Lee hit a pitch off Kan Ohtake, sending it over center field wall.

“It was a straight ball, and I swung just to hit it right,” Lee said after the game, describing the home run ball. “It took so long to hit another home run. Now I am so relieved.”

Sports Hochi, a Japanese media outlet, led its edition with an article about the 40th homer, crediting Lee for his effort to overcome a knee injury and for winning what it called a “battle with ice.”

“Lee has made strenuous efforts to get his right knee back. And it worked at last after his spending scoreless nights icing the knee,” the paper said.

Lee has been hampered with an injured left knee, which forced him to skip a couple of games and limit his at-bats several times.

In a repeat of the rivalry they had for several years in the Korean league, Tyrone Woods of the Dragons is trailing Lee by five homers.

Woods, who left Korea in 2002, hit 42 homers in his KBO debut in 1998 and took the league's home run champion title while Lee finished in second with 38.

Lee led the league with 54 homers in 1999 before Woods reclaimed the title next year with 39, three ahead of him. Lee rose atop again in 2000 and 2001, hitting 39 and 47, respectively, while Woods recorded 34 and 25, each.

With 97 RBIs, Lee is also on the verge of becoming the first Giants player in four years to reach the 100 RBIs milestone. Hideki Matsui, now playing for New York Yankees, set the 100 RBI record for Yomiuri in 2002.