By Yoon Chul
Staff Reporter
Park Chan-ho of the Philadelphia Phillies had a good start in his new role as a reliever, pitching one scoreless inning in a 12-5 win against the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday.
At the Great American Ball Park Stadium in Cincinnati, the 35-year-old veteran went to the mound at the top of the eighth and maintained his team's seven-run lead.
Park threw 13 strikes on 25 pitches, recording one strikeout and two walks, and managed to hit 151 kilometers per hour with his fastball. The 15-year veteran lowered his ERA from 7.08 to 6.88.
It was Park's first appearance since being banished to the bullpen earlier this week after a poor start against the Washington Nationals, where he gave up five runs in just 1 1/3 innings.
The fourth pitcher of the day, Park got the first batter he faced to ground out, but then walked Ryan Hanigan.
Park got another ground out on a play where the Phillies could have turned two, before issuing another walk and then striking out Willy Taveras to end the inning
Sergio Escalona came in to pitch the ninth inning for Philadelphia.
It was a good night for the Phillies batters, who produced four home runs and 14 hits. Chase Utley led the way, going 3-for-4 with a home run, two runs scored and 4 RBIs.
With the win, the Phillies (22-17) move a game-and-a-half ahead of the New York Mets for top spot in the National League (NL) East.