Twins' Park belts 5th home run of spring

By Baek Byung-yeul

Park Byung-ho of the Minnesota Twins belted his fifth home run of the spring exhibition league to give his team a 1-0 win over the Tampa Bay Rays, Tuesday.

At Hammond Stadium in South Fort Myers, Florida , the Korean slugger batted seventh as a designated hitter and crushed his team-leading fifth homer of the spring to right center off the Rays right-hander Austin Pruitt in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Overall, he went 1-for-2 with a walk to raise his batting average from .356 to .362.

“It’s less of a mechanical thing than a timing thing with the bat,” Park was quoted by MLB.com. “My timing has been great at the plate. It’s worked out really well for me.”

The official website of Major League Baseball (MLB) added Park is “essentially a lock to be Minnesota’s Opening Day designated hitter, but needs to be added to the 40-man roster.”

After batting just .191 with 12 home runs and 24 RBIs in 62 games in his MLB debut season last year, the Twins designated Park for assignment to make room on its 40-man roster for another player. He cleared waivers and was demoted to the Twins’ minor league teams. He currently participates in the team’s spring exhibition games on invitation.

The St. Louis Cardinals closer Oh Seung-hwan pitched two scoreless innings in his team’s 3-3 exhibition tie with the New York Mets at First Data Field in Port St. Lucie, Florida, Tuesday.

Appearing in five games in the spring, Oh has recorded an ERA of 4.50, allowing three runs and five hits including two homers while striking out seven.

Kim Hyun-soo of the Baltimore Orioles also added a hit during his team’s spring game against the Atlanta Braves.

At Champion Stadium in Kissimmee, Florida, Kim started the game and went for 1-for-3.

Against the Braves left-handed starter Jaime Garcia, Kim was struck out and was set to ground the ball to the pitcher at his first two at-bats, but recorded a hit in the early sixth.

In Arizona., Hwang Jae-gyun, who signed a minor league deal with the San Francisco Giants in January, extended his hitting streak of the spring to four games after going 1-for-2 with a walk in the Giants’ game against the Chicago Cubs.

Hwang replaced Conor Gillaspie in the top of the sixth inning and worked a full count walk from the Cubs’ lefty Mike Montgomery and also a run. That was Hwang’s first walk and seventh run of the spring.

After hitting a ground ball to the second baseman in the eighth inning, he added a hit in the ninth. Overall, he has batted .356 with 16 hits in 45 at-bats during the spring.