The Korea Herald

피터빈트

Pirates' Kang Jung-ho, Rangers' Choo Shin-soo go yard

By KH디지털2

Published : June 23, 2016 - 13:37

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Kang Jung-ho of the Pittsburgh Pirates and Choo Shin-soo of the Texas Rangers both homered in the majors, while other South Koreans also picked up base hits. 

Kang hit his 10th home run of 2016 off San Francisco Giants' starter Jeff Samardzija in the bottom of the third at PNC Park in Pittsburgh Wednesday (local time). Kang's blast over the center field wall gave the Pirates a 6-1 cushion.

(Yonhap) (Yonhap)

It was Kang's first home run since June 14 versus the New York Mets. The South Korean third baseman entered this game having batted .190 (4-for-21) with zero homers and one RBI over his past seven contests.

The Pirates failed to score the rest of the game, as the Giants rallied to beat them 7-6. The homer was Kang's only hit in four at-bats, and he's now batting .276 this season.

Kang, who hit 15 homers last year, is now tied for the team lead with Andrew McCutchen and Gregory Polanco, who hit his 10th shot earlier in Thursday's game.

Kang had those 15 home runs in 421 at-bats last season. His No.10 in 2016 came at his 125th at-bat. Polanco and McCutchen have 256 and 277 at-bats so far this season, respectively.

Choo also went deep Wednesday. He belted his second homer of the season off Tony Cingrani of the Cincinnati Reds in the bottom of the eighth at Globe Life Ballpark in Arlington.
(Yonhap) (Yonhap)

Choo's solo shot gave the Rangers a 6-4 lead, and they hung on to win by the same score. Choo missed a big chunk of the season with calf and hamstring injuries so this was only his 15th game in 2016.

Elsewhere in the majors, Lee Dae-ho of the Seattle Mariners batted a cleanup for the first time in his big league career, and 1-for-4 in the Mariners' 5-1 loss to the Detroit Tigers. Lee's first-inning single was one of Seattle's three hits in the game.

Baltimore Orioles' outfielder Kim Hyun-soo went 2-for-4 and knocked in a run to help the club defeat the San Diego Padres 7-2. It was Kim's 11th game with multiple hits in 2016, and he's batting .339 in his rookie season. (Yonhap)