| Texas Rangers' veteran Choo Shin-soo / Korea Times file |
Choo went 2-for-3 with three RBIs and two runs scored in the Rangers' 11-4 win over the Los Angeles Angels at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California, on Thursday (local time).
With the Rangers leading 5-1 in the top of the second inning, Choo smacked a single off the Angels starter Matt Harvey for career hit No. 1,500. The 36-year-old South Korean, who made his big league debut in 2005, later launched a three-run double to celebrate his feat in 1,474 games.
With his latest performance, Choo became the second Asian man to reach the 1,500-hit milestone behind Ichiro Suzuki of Japan, who recently finished his career with 3,089 major league hits. Overall, Choo is the 637th player to record at least 1,500 hits in MLB.
Batting leadoff and playing right field, Choo was hit by a pitch in his first at-bat and came around to score when Joey Gallo launched a three-run shot in the top of the first.
After getting his 1,500th hit, a line-drive single to center field off Harvey's fastball, Choo flew out to right field to end the top of the third.
However, Choo bounced back in the fifth. With the bases loaded and two outs, he hit a double off the Angels reliever Luke Bard and brought three runners home for a 9-2 lead.
In the eighth, Choo drew a walk from the Angels right-hander Cam Bedrosian and scored a run following Elvis Andrus' single.
Choo improved his batting average from .167 to .238 with his multi-hit game.
Meanwhile, Pittsburgh Pirates infielder Kang Jung-ho went silent in his club's 2-0 win over the Cincinnati Reds at PNC Park in Pittsburgh. He went 0-for-4, suffering two strikeouts.
Kang's batting average went down from .231 to .176.
(Yonhap)