Milwaukee's Eric Thames tops in Major League homer ranking

Milwaukee's Eric Thames tops in Major League homer ranking. April. 22, 2017 07:02. by Kyu-In Hwang kini@donga.com.

Milwaukee Brewers slugger Eric Thames has hit another homer in his third game after hitting his previous homerun.

In a home game at Miller Park in Wisconsin, Thames, who had played in the Korean pro league until last season, swung a fastball of 151 kilometers per hour pitched by St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Carlos Martinez (26), with one out and a runner on the first base in the bottom of the fifth inning, to hit the homer over the central fence. Thames has posted his eighth homer in this season, and is now the lone lead in the Major League Homerun Derbies.

Milwaukee, which had been trailing, came from behind to lead 5-4. Milwaukee did not allow St. Louis to upset the game during the remaining innings and won 7-5, having Thames’ homer as the finishing homerun. Thames also had a short hit in his first time at bat, and posted two hits in four times at bat overall in the game. He saw his batting average increase to .415, which ranks second in the Major League.

Thames is hitting a flurry of hits after returning to the Major League after a four-year absence, but has said, “I feel a bit bored.” Kim Tae-kyun, who was a teammate at his former team in Korea until last year, said with smiles, “I had a video call with Thames. He told me that when he hit homers in Korea, we would have many fun ceremonies, sometimes me pulling his beard, but he feels bored because they only gesture high fives in the Major League.”

Pitcher Oh Seung-hwan belongs to the St. Louis Cardinals, and he could have had a showdown with Thames. But since St. Louis lost the game, Oh did not have a chance to take the mount as a relief pitcher. Choo Shin-soo of the Texas Rangers also did not play on the day. Kim Hyun-soo of the Baltimore Orioles played in five days, but only had a walk without a hit.