Home   >   Sports   >   Kang Jung-ho grounds out in 1st big league at-bat

Kang Jung-ho grounds out in 1st big league at-bat

April 9, 2015
Pittsburgh Pirates' Kang Jung-ho of South Korea hits a double during a spring training exhibition baseball game against the New York Yankees in Bradenton, Fla., Thursday, March 5, 2015. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Pittsburgh Pirates’ Kang Jung-ho of South Korea (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

(Yonhap) — Kang Jung-ho, the South Korean infielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates, grounded out in his first Major League Baseball (MLB) at-bat Wednesday in Cincinnati.

Facing the home team Reds, the 28-year-old utility player pinch-hit for relief pitcher Arquimedes Caminero with one out in the top of the eighth inning, with the score tied at 4-4.

With Jumbo Diaz on the mound, Kang took the first pitch fastball for a ball. He swung at the second pitch, also a fastball that was clocked at 95 miles per hour, and grounded out to third base.

Kang didn’t take the field in the bottom half of the inning, and Tony Watson relieved Caminero to start the eighth.

The Pirates lost the game 5-4 in the bottom of the 11th, as Joey Votto drove in the winning run with a two-out single off Radhames Liz, who once pitched for the LG Twins in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO).

Kang sat out the Pirates’ season opener Monday. On Wednesday, the Bucs’ second game of the season was delayed by more than two hours due to rain.

Kang signed a four-year deal with the Pirates in January after playing for nine seasons in the KBO. He is the first South Korean position player to go from the KBO to the majors. In 2014 for the Nexen Heroes, Kang belted 40 home runs, a single-season record for a shortstop in South Korea.

Kang had an up-and-down spring training in which he batted .200 with two home runs and five RBIs.

Primarily a shortstop in the KBO, Kang will likely serve as a backup to shortstop Jordy Mercer and also spell Neil Walker at second base. Mercer batted .333 in spring with three homers, while Walker, who ranked second on the team last year with 23 homers, had two in spring along with 10 RBIs and a .316 average.