Before Thursday, Byung Ho Park had recovered from a slow start upon his demotion to Class AAA Rochester to hit five home runs in his past nine games.

Now he has eight homers in his past 10.

Park hit three home runs Thursday afternoon as the Twins' Class AAA minor league team defeated the Pawtucket Red Sox 13-5. Park hit home runs in the sixth, eighth and ninth inning, with the final one a three-run blast to straightaway center field, according to the Red Wings' website.

Until this season, by the way, no Rochester player had hit three homers in a game since 1990. Now it's been done twice this season, with Red Wings outfielder Adam Brett Walker doing so during a game in May.

Since losing his spot on the Twins roster to Kennys Vargas, Park is batting .286 (22-for-77) for Rochester with 19 strikeouts. All of his homers have come in the past two weeks.

Howard Sinker