Lee Dae-ho, Park Byung-ho hit first MLB home runs
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Lee Dae-ho
By Baek Byung-yeul
Lee Dae-ho of the Seattle Mariners and Park Byung-ho of the Minnesota Twins delivered their first Major League Baseball (MLB) home runs, Saturday (KST).
The two Korean sluggers began playing in the United States this season.
Park, a four-time Korean league home run king, blasted a 132-meter shot in the top of the eighth inning against the Kansas City Royals’ Joakim Soria. Park’s home run gave his team the lead, but the Royals came back with two runs in the bottom of the innings to win 4-3.
Despite his first big league home run, Park didn’t grin much as the Twins lost their fourth straight game. “First home run, it does mean something to me, but, the losing streak means more to me,” Park said through an interpreter. “It’s more of a concern. We need to get our first win.”
The Mariners’ Lee also posted a home run against the Oakland Athletics.
In their home opener, Lee batted eighth and hit a homer off the Athletics’ lefty Erik Surkamp to lead off the fifth inning, but the Mariners lost 2-3 as their closer Steve Cishek allowed a home run in the ninth.
Park and Lee have now recorded the first homers in the least number of games for Korean players, breaking the previous record of the fifth game set by former Chicago Cubs’ Choi Hee-seop in 2002.
However, the players had a quiet day, Sunday.
Park, who batted sixth, went 1-for-4 against the Royals, extending his consecutive on base streak to 4. Park’s batting average went up to .231 from .222. However, his team lost to the Royals 0-7.
Against the Athletics, Lee batted eighth and went 0-for-1 with a hit by pitch, recording a batting average of .167. Following the 2-3 loss on Saturday, the Mariners took a 1-6 loss.
The Texas Rangers Choo Shin-soo missed the game against the Angels due to a strained right calf muscle. After a 4-1 win, the Rangers announced they are awaiting the results of an MRI taken of Choo’s calf.