Park Goes 3-3 Against Arizona’s Ace

Park Chan-ho (33, San Diego Padres) has a total of 240 at-bats out of the 308 major league games he has played in; for the first time in his major league career, Park got three base hits in one game.

At an away game against the Arizona Diamondbacks held on May 16 at Chase Field, Arizona, Padres starter Park pitched a winless seven innings, allowing only five hits and four runs with only one earned run.

Park shined more brightly in the batter box. Against Arizona ace Brandon Webb who has won six games already, Park batted 3-for-3, racking up two runs for the Padres. In his first at-bat in the second inning, he smacked a 146km/h high fastball to get a base hit up the middle. In the fifth inning, Park`s timely swing resulted in another smash to right.

The highlight of the game came in the sixth inning, with the Padres trailing the Diamondbacks 3-4, and the base loaded. Park turned the table around by hitting a 122km/h slow curve up the infield center, bringing in two runners home. Since his major league debut in 1994, Park had never had three hits in one game until yesterday.

After knocking his fourth base hit of the season, Park’s batting average went from 0.083 to 0.267. It is not known to many that in his Gongju High School days, Park was known as a good hitter.

Park allowed four runs during the seven innings he pitched due to errors made by his teammates. Only one run was earned. Park has made three consecutive quality starts (pitching more than six innings while allowing three or less runs due to errors) since the Cubs game on May 6. His ERA fell from 3.57 to 3.27. Park came off the mound in the eighth, with the Padres leading, 5-4. The Padres failed to hold on to their lead as the reliever Scott Linebrink allowed a game-tying single homer to Tony Clark. The San Diego Padres lost 5-6.

uni@donga.com