Kang Jung-ho hits 10th homer, commits major error at 9th inning

Kang Jung-ho of the Pittsburgh Pirates hit his 10th homer in the first year since his Major League debut.

Kang hit a solo homer over the left fence on Monday by batting a curve ball off Diamondbacks` relief pitcher at the bottom of the seventh inning with one out when his team was leading 7-3 at the home game against the Arizona Diamondbacks . It was his 10th homer of the season. Kang had two hits, one RBI and two runs from seven times at bat on the day, and maintained his batting average at 0.285.

After hitting his ninth homer of this season at a home game against the LA Dodgers on Tuesday last week, Kang garnered anther homer at the seventh game. Choo Shin-soo of the Texas Rangers had his 14th homer in 2008, the fourth season since his debut in the Major League. Choi Hee-sup hit his 15th homer in 2004, the third season after his debut in the big league.

Kang committed a critical error at the ninth inning however. He missed a grounder towards the third base hit by outfielder Ender Inciarte at the top of the ninth inning when his team was leading 8-6. When Arizona had runners at the first and second bases with two outs, Pirates` Sean Rodriguez missed a grounder hit by Paul Edward Goldschmidt, the two runners made it to the home.

Kang seized a critical chance to compensate for his error at the bottom of the ninth inning. He had straight hit towards the first base at the bottom of the ninth inning with one out and a runner at the second base, when the score was tying 8-8, but unfortunately missed the chance to garner a finishing hit due to stellar defense play by the first baseman. Kang was seen expressing anger by throwing his helmet upon returning to the dugout. Pittsburgh won the game 9-8 through a finishing three-base hit by pinch-runner Pedro Florimon at the bottom of the 15th inning.

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