Minnesota Twins' Park Byung-ho extends spring hitting streak to 5

SEOUL, March 13 (Yonhap) -- Minnesota Twins' Park Byung-ho extended his spring hitting streak to five games on Saturday against the Baltimore Orioles in Florida.

Batting cleanup as designated hitter, Park went 2-for-3 at Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota, Florida, to raise his batting average to .364 (8-for-22).

Park hit two singles in his first two at-bats for his second multi-hit game of spring training. He flied out to center in the sixth and was lifted for pinch hitter Mitch Garver in the seventh.

Park is in his first U.S. spring training after enjoying a dominant stretch in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) with the Nexen Heroes. He hit 53 home runs in 2015 and 52 the year before, as the first KBO player to post back-to-back 50-homer seasons. He led the league in home runs and RBIs in every season from 2012 to 2015.

The Twins lost to the O's 8-1. Baltimore's Korean outfielder, Kim Hyun-soo, sat out the game.

Elsewhere in preseason action, Los Angeles Angels first baseman Choi Ji-man also had a multi-hit game, going 2-for-4 with an RBI against the San Francisco Giants at Tempe Diablo Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. This was the second spring game with at least two hits for the long-time minor league prospect.

Choi, a Rule 5 Draftee, expected to crack the big league roster for the first time, is now batting .280 in 10 Cactus League games.

From the opposite dugout, the Giants' shortstop Lee Hak-ju, also hoping to reach the majors for the first time, entered the game in the seventh as the defensive replacement, and went 0-for-1 at the plate. He's hitting 3-for-10 in spring.

The Angels prevailed 9-5.

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