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Rangers’ Choo has hitting streak snapped at 7 games

August 6, 2015

Texas Rangers’ Shin-Soo Choo, of South Korea (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

ARLINGTON, Texas (Yonhap) — South Korean outfielder Choo Shin-soo of the Texas Rangers had his hitting streak snapped at seven games against the Houston Astros on Wednesday at home.

Choo flied out to right field as a pinch hitter in the bottom of the seventh inning at Globe Life Park in Arlington, and is now batting .239 on the season.

The Rangers still defeated the Astros 4-3 to complete their three-game sweep of the American League West division leaders. The Rangers have now won four straight and improved to 54-53, five games behind the Astros.

Choo was out of the starting lineup against the Astros’ left-handed starter Scott Kazmir.

Texas manager Jeff Banister filled his lineup with seven right-handed batters against Kazmir, with only Prince Fielder and Mitch Moreland as the left-handed bats.

Though Choo has often struggled against southpaws, batting only .180 in 128 at-bats, benching him Wednesday seemed to be a curious decision at best. Choo has gone 7-for-22 (.318) versus Kazmir with a home run, three RBIs and five walks.

In 14 games since the All-Star break, Choo is batting .354/.439/.688 with three homers and 12 RBIs. Against lefties in that span, Choo has hit .353, with four extra-base hits.

Kazmir entered the game with a .221 opponent batting average in 113 at-bats against left-handed batters this season.

Banister noted that though Choo has had a good history against Kazmir, the outfielder has been 1-for-6 against the lefty in 2015.

Over in the National League, Pittsburgh Pirates’ shortstop Kang Jung-ho snapped out of an 0-for-11 funk with a base hit against the Chicago Cubs.

Kang hit a single off Dan Haren for his only hit of the night in four at-bats. The NL Rookie of the Month for July is batting .291 this year.

The Pirates prevailed 7-5 and moved to 62-44, the second-best record in the NL behind the St. Louis Cardinals.