Taipei, June 2 (CNA) Detroit Tigers second baseman Lee Hao-yu (李灝宇), the only active Taiwanese batter in Major League Baseball (MLB), hit his second major league home run in his team’s 10-9 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday.
Batting eighth in the three-game series opener at Tropicana Field, Lee went 2-for-5 with a solo homer, two runs scored and an RBI as Detroit snapped a four-game losing streak.
After going hitless in his first two at-bats, Lee blasted a solo shot in the top of the sixth inning to extend the Tigers’ lead to 8-2. He later led off the eighth with a single and came around to score Detroit’s ninth run of the game.
The homer was Lee’s second in the majors and Detroit’s fifth of the game.
Facing an 0-2 count, the 23-year-old drove a 94.7-mph four-seam fastball from Trevor Martin over the right-field wall.
The Tigers built an early 6-0 lead, highlighted by consecutive home runs from Dillon Dingler, Kerry Carpenter and Riley Greene in the third inning. Dingler had another solo home run in the fifth.
Tampa Bay fought back throughout the game, scoring three runs in the sixth inning and four more in the eighth to cut the deficit to one run, but Detroit held on to secure the victory.
Lee raised his batting average to .205 after the game.
Reliever Tyler Holton earned his first win of the season after tossing 1 2/3 scoreless innings.
The Tigers remained fifth in the American League Central Division at 23-38 after the Kansas City Royals also won Monday, leaving Detroit a half-game behind Kansas City.
(By Chao Yen-hsiang)
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