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Twins’ Park Byung-ho drives in two more as cleanup

March 22, 2016

(Yonhap) — Park Byung-ho of the Minnesota Twins drove in a pair of runs in the cleanup spot in spring training action Tuesday.

In a split-squad game at Bright House Field in Clearwater, Florida, Park went 1-for-3 with two RBIs, as the Twins beat the Philadelphia Phillies 7-5.

After going hitless in his previous two games, the South Korean first baseman hit an RBI double off Jerad Eickhoff in the top of the first to put the Twins up 1-0.

Park grounded into a 5-4-3 double play in the third but reached on an error by third baseman Angelys Nina in the sixth.

The Phillies rallied to take a 4-3 lead through six, but the Twins put up a four-spot in the top seventh to retake the lead. After Travis Harrison’s single tied the score at 4-4, Park hit a sacrifice fly to center to break the deadlock. Eddie Rosario delivered a two-run single to put the Twins ahead by three runs.

Park was hit by a pitch in the top ninth. He’s hitting .306/.333/.611 with three home runs and 11 RBIs in 13 spring games.

The Twins’ other squad defeated the Baltimore Orioles 5-1, with the O’s Korean outfielder Kim Hyun-soo missing the action.

Both Park and Kim are in their first major league spring training. Park signed a four-year deal with the Twins in December via posting, and is coming off his second straight 50-homer season with the Nexen Heroes in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO). Kim inked a two-year deal with Baltimore in December as a free agent. He’d been one of the KBO’s most consistent hitters for the Doosan Bears and had a career batting average of .318, third-highest among active players.