Minnesota’s Park Byung-ho hits 7th homer of the season

Minnesota Twins baseman Park Byung-ho hit his seventh homer of the season. Park took the batter’s box as his team’s seventh and designated batter in a game against the Huston Rockets at Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas on Tuesday local time, when he hit a solo homer with a flying distance of 397 feet (about 121 meters) to the second-floor spectator stand in the top of the sixth inning.

Since his Major League debut, it was the second time after he hit a homer through rightward pushy swing at the game against Milwaukee on April 19. Unlike most other sluggers who tend to swing inwardly, Park hit 49, or 29 percent of the 220 homers that he hit in the Korean pro league, through rightward pushy swings.

With the homer, Park has solidified not only his No. 1 spot in homers in his team but also the top place in homers among the rookie players in the American League. The second-ranked player in homers among the rookie players in the American League is Tylor White (five).

“The more I take the batter’s box in games and I check pitchers’ pitches, the more lesson I learn," Park said. "I gain self-confidence all the more when I take the batter’s box.”

강홍구기자 windup@donga.com