By Kang Seung-woo
Staff Reporter
Park Chan-ho of the Philadelphia Phillies claimed his long-awaited first win of the season against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday (Seoul Time).
The veteran righty scattered seven hits over six innings, while giving up two runs and issuing no walks to help the defending World Series champs beat his former team 5-3 at Citizens Bank Park in front of a home crowd of 45,191.
Park made his big league debut with Los Angeles in 1994 and played in Los Angeles until 2001, compiling a record of 80-54 with a 3.80 ERA. He also pitched for Los Angeles last season as a reliever.
After finally getting into the win column in his sixth bid, he is 1-1 with a 6.00 ERA. It's his first triumph since June 27 last year when he pitched for the Dodgers.
The win also put Park, who is 118-93 in his 16-year career, six wins shy of breaking the record for most wins by an Asian hurler, set by former Dodger Hideo Nomo of Japan.
Park had been beleaguered by local media and fans due to a dreadful start that saw him post an ERA of 8.57 in four appearances. With his second straight quality start ― delivering at least six innings and allowing no more than three earned runs ― Park looks to have solidified his status in the rotation.
The 35-year-old gave up one-hit through six shutout innings against the New York Mets last week.
Park got off to a wobbly start against the Dodgers' lefty-heavy lineup, which has seven including southpaw starter Clayton Kershaw, allowing his former team to jump out of the gate in the first inning.
Left fielder Juan Pierre, who has collected 12 hits against Park in 25 plate appearances, led off the game with a double and one out later, scored on a single by Orlando Hudson, who got caught in a rundown between first and second.
The South Korean surrendered another double to Andre Ethier, but induced All-Star catcher Russell Martin into an inning-ending groundout.
After retiring six batters in the second and third innings, Park allowed the National League (NL)-leading Dodgers to go ahead in the fourth.
With runners on the corners and two outs with the score tied 1-1, Matt Kemp hit a run-scoring single to right for a 2-1 lead.
After allowing Kershaw to lead off the fifth with a single, he retired seven straight in one stretch which included three grounders in the sixth.
Reliever Chad Durbin came into the game to replace Park to start the seventh inning.
The Phillies, which defeated the Dodgers 4-1 in the NL Division Series last season, turned the game around in the fourth as Jimmy Rollins hit an RBI single and Raul Ibanez followed with a two-run double to make it 4-2.
In the seventh, Jayson Werth stole the home to extend the lead to 5-2.
Phillies closer Brad Lidge, who converted all 41 of his save opportunities in their title run, gave up a run in the ninth, but still took his fifth save of the season.
Kershaw, who beat Park in a battle for the Dodgers' rotation last year, went five innings and yielded four runs on as many hits and tied a season-high with five walks, while the Dodgers fell to 1-4 after Manny Ramirez began serving a 50-game suspension.