Kim Hyun-soo of the Baltimore Orioles hit his first major league home run against the Cleveland Indians on the road Sunday (local time).
The South Korean outfielder hit a tie-breaking solo shot in the top of the seventh at Progressive Field in Cleveland, giving the Orioles a 5-4 lead. They went on to win the game 6-4 to take the rubber match of their three-game series.
Kim made his fifth consecutive start in left field, after sitting out for the five straight games prior to that.
Kim went 1-for-3 with an RBI and a walk Sunday, and is batting .383 (18-for-47) for the season. Over his five straight starts, Kim is hitting 7-for-16 with three extra-base hits.
Batting second, Kim struck out swinging against Mike Clevinger in the first but drew a walk in the second. Kim went down swinging again in the fifth, the first time he's struck out more than once in a game all season but bounced back with the solo blast in the seventh.
Kim came to the plate with two outs in that inning against right-handed reliever Jeff Manship, with the score tied at 4-4. After going down 0-2 in the count, Kim watched two balls outside the zone before driving a 92-mph two-seam fastball over the right field wall.
Kim was replaced by Joey Rickard in left field to start the top eighth.
A perennial All-Star in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO), Kim had a dismal spring training after signing a two-year deal with the Orioles in December. Rickard, a career minor leaguer selected in the Rule 5 Draft, outperformed Kim and got the everyday left field job to start the season.
Rickard hit safely in 13 of his first 14 games and batted .350 in that span before cooling off considerably afterward. Rickard's batting average nosedived to .259 by May 24, prompting manager Buck Showalter to insert Kim into the starting lineup more regularly after refusing to do so for weeks.
The South Korean has made the most of his opportunities. He made only six appearances in April and six more in May before starting the string of consecutive starts last week.