The all-time South Korean saves leader struck out the country’s home run king in their first U.S. showdown on Monday.
St. Louis Cardinals reliever Oh Seung-hwan and Minnesota Twins designated hitter/first baseman Park Byung-ho faced each other with two outs in the top of the sixth inning at Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter, Florida. Oh, the usually stoic pitcher nicknamed “Stone Buddha” for his unflappable nature, flashed a little grin as Park came to the plate. The right-hander then got to work.
Oh, taking over from Seth Maness to start the sixth, threw a first-pitch fastball for a strike. He then missed the zone on the next two pitches, before getting Park to swing on a fastball. At 2-2, Oh threw a splitter that Park swung on and missed.
It was Oh’s first strikeout of the spring. He was relieved by Austin Gomber to start the seventh.
Oh has now tossed 4 1/3 scoreless innings. He hasn’t given up a hit and has allowed just one base runner on a hit by pitch.
Park, who batted fifth and played first base, did have a hit in the game to extend his spring hitting streak to six games. After striking out looking against Mike Leake in the second, Park hit a single in the fifth off Maness.
Mitch Garver replaced Park at the bag in the bottom sixth. After a 1-for-3 day, Park is hitting .360 (9-for-25) in the spring.
The Twins beat the Cards 5-3.
Both Oh and Park are former Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) All-Stars competing in their first spring training. Oh signed with the Cardinals in January after collecting 277 saves in nine seasons in South Korea and 80 more in two years in Japan. He’s expected to serve as a setup man for All-Star closer Trevor Rosenthal.
Park joined the Twins in December. He hit a career-high 53 home runs in 2015 for the Nexen Heroes, after hitting 52 the previous year, to become the first KBO player with two straight 50-homer seasons. (Yonhap)
