CLEVELAND – Byung Ho Park on Friday became the first Twins player with a multi-home run game this season when he hit a solo shot and a two-run homer against the Indians. It came on a night in which the Twins set a season high with four homers.
Park's solo home run in the second inning, estimated at 458 feet by MLB.com's statcast, gave the Twins a 2-0 lead at the time. Then his second homer, a two-run shot to left in the third inning, gave the Twins a 4-2 lead.
"I wasn't looking for certain pitches at the time," Park said of his two home runs. "I was just working on my timing, and my timing was decent."
The Twins needed one more long one from him in the ninth inning, but he struck out with two men on to end the game in a 7-6 loss, their eighth in a row.
Park is the fourth Korean-born player to hit two home runs in a MLB game, joining Jung Ho Kang, Shin-Soo Choo and Hee-Seop Choi. He's also the first Twin with a multi-homer game at Progressive field since Chris Parmelee on June 22, 2013.
Park now leads the Twins with nine home runs and tops all American League rookies. Colorado's Trevor Story leads the majors with 11.
Miguel Sano and Eduardo Nunez also homered for the Twins, the first time they hit four homers in a game since last July 24 against the Yankees.
Support for Jepsen
There doesn't appear to be any momentum toward removing Kevin Jepsen as the closer.