Twins' Park Byung-ho blasts two home runs

Park Byung-ho of the Minnesota Twins blasted two home runs against the Cleveland Indians on the road Friday (local time).

The South Korean slugger ended a four-game hitless drought for his first two-homer game in the majors. He leads the Twins and all American League rookies with nine long balls this season.

Batting fifth as a designated hitter at Progressive Field, Park led off the top second with a solo shot off Cleveland starter Josh Tomlin. It put the Twins up 2-0.

The Indians tied things up with a pair of runs in the bottom second, but with a man at first and one out in the top third, Park launched his second home run off Tomlin to give the Twins a 4-2 advantage. It was Park's first home run of the season with a man aboard and it gave Park 15 RBIs for the season.

Three of Park's nine home runs have come against Tomlin, who'd earlier given up a solo shot to the South Korean on April 27.

The Twins lost the game 7-6. They went ahead 5-4 with a run in the top eighth, but promptly surrendered three runs in the bottom half of that inning to go down 7-5.

The Twins rallied with a run in the top ninth, but with two men on and two outs, Park struck out swinging against closer Cody Allen for the game's final out.

Park finished the game 2-for-5 with three RBIs and two runs scored. He's now batting .245 on the season.

Park is the third South Korean to enjoy a multi-homer game in 2016, after Lee Dae-ho of the Seattle Mariners, who had two homers against the Oakland Athletics last Wednesday, and Kang Jung-ho of the Pittsburgh Pirates, who hit two against the St. Louis Cardinals last Friday. (Yonhap)