Park Chan-ho, the “Yankees Killer”

Although he did not add another win to his record this season, Park Chan-ho of the Texas Rangers, 32, held his place on the mound against the New York Yankees for his longest outing this season, and showed his outstanding pitching.

Park allowed six hits, five walks, and a run until the eighth inning at Ameriquest Field on July 20. He left the mound in the eighth after one out with the team behind the Yankees 0-1 with the Texas Rangers wielding a silent bat.

Park threw 100 pitches until the seventh inning and did not allow a run to the Yankees, who have scored 72 runs in the previous 10 games.

Park’s pitching was impressive. Four out of the five strikeouts were done with three pitches.

After 100 pitches, Park walked the first batter Bubba Crosby in the eighth. With one out and a runner at second, Park allowed a hit to Robinson Cano and the first run of the game.

Backed by Park’s strong pitching, Texas won the game 2-1 on Hank Blaylock’s two-run home run in the eighth.

Park said, “I thought the longer I stayed on the mound, the better the chance we would win. To keep the number of pitches low, I pitched in the strike zone after two strikes instead of throwing tricky pitches.”

Park kept his season record of eight wins and four losses but lowered his ERA to 5.33.

Meanwhile, Choi Hee-seop of the Los Angeles Dodgers, 26, did well in a road game against Philadelphia. Choi hit 2-for-3 with a walk and a run, continuing a 3-game hitting streak, adding to the doubles in each of the two previous games. With that, Choi pulled up his batting average to 0.243 along with his batting sense.

Sung-Kyu Kim kimsk@donga.com