Lee Jung-hoo (25-San Francisco Giants) couldn’t break through the wall of San Diego Padres shortstop Kim Ha-seong (28-San Diego Padres) until his second at-bat. But in his third at-bat, he sent a pitch into the outfield for his third consecutive hit, and in his fourth at-bat, he hit his first home run in the big leagues.
Lee went 1-for-4 with a walk and two RBIs in the leadoff spot in the lineup against the visiting San Diego Padres in the 2024 Major League Baseball (MLB) regular season at Petco Park in San Diego, California, USA, on May 31.
The highlight came in the eighth inning.
With San Francisco leading 3-1 and the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth inning, Lee drew a one-pitch, one-strike count and pulled a 125-mile-per-hour sweeper off San Diego left-handed reliever Tom Cosgrove. The pitch traveled 124 meters at 168 mph and landed in the bleachers in right-center field.
Lee circled the diamond with a straight face, but former LG Twins coach Lee Jong-beom, who sat in the stands and watched his son hit his first MLB home run, had a big smile on his face.
After going 1-for-3 with a walk and an RBI in his big league debut on Sept. 29, Lee went 1-for-5 with his first multi-hit game (2-for-5 with a home run and an RBI) on Sept. 30, and the day started off with a bang.
In his first three games in the big leagues this year, Lee is now 4-for-12 (.333 batting average) with one home run and four RBIs.
Lee’s home run made him the 15th Korean to hit a home run in the MLB.
Choo Shin-soo, Kang Jeong-ho, Choi Hee-seop, Choi Ji-joon, Kim Ha-seong, Lee Dae-ho, Park Byung-ho, Kim Hyun-soo, Park Hyo-joon, Park Chan-ho, Ryu Hyun-jin, Baek Cha-seung, Hwang Jae-gyun, and Bae Ji-hwan have joined him.
Kim Ha-seong, batting fifth and playing shortstop,
He had a couple of Gold Glove-worthy plays at the plate, including picking off a couple of Lee’s hard-hit balls, but went 0-for-4 at the plate.
Kim is batting .167 (3-for-18) with one home run, one RBI and two stolen bases in five games as the A’s open a two-game series against Los Angeles in Seoul before returning to San Diego for the home opener.
In his first at-bat in the first inning, 스포츠토토 Lee took a 156-mile-per-hour fastball from San Diego starter Dylan Sease for a double.
However, Kim Ha-seong, who played a shift (a modified defense) near second base instead of his usual shortstop position, caught the ball past second base and made an accurate throw to catch Lee.
In the top of the third inning, Lee was hit by a 154-kilometer-per-hour fastball from Siez. However, the 168-kilometer-per-hour fastball was caught by Kim Ha-sung near second base.
Lee didn’t miss the RBI opportunity.
In the fifth inning, with San Francisco up 2-0 and runners on second and third, Lee pulled a 141-mph slider from Sease for a sacrifice fly to right field.
The ball traveled 94 meters and was caught by San Diego right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. in front of the fence.
In the eighth inning, Lee celebrated his first big league home run by sending a pitch into the outfield bleachers where no fielder could catch it.
Lee stepped to the plate one more time in the eighth, but was stranded on a grounder to second base.
Kim struck out looking at Jordan Hicks’ splitter in the second inning.
In the bottom of the fourth, with runners on first and second, he grounded into a fielder’s choice.
He grounded out to first base in the sixth inning, and in the bottom of the eighth, with runners on second and third, he hit a foul home run before being stranded on third base.
San Francisco beat San Diego, 9-6, to win its second straight game after dropping the first.
The Giants opened the scoring in the second inning with runners on first and third on a Tyro Estrada sacrifice fly to center field and scored on Tom Murphy’s two-run double to left field.
Jung-Hoo Lee followed with a sacrifice fly in the fifth inning.
In the eighth inning, Lee’s solo shot and Michael Conforto’s grand slam sealed the deal.
San Diego rallied with a pair of home runs in the bottom of the ninth, but were unable to tie the game.
Jordan Hicks, making his first start since joining San Francisco, earned the win with five innings of three-hit, no-run ball, striking out six.
Sears, who was designated for assignment by San Diego, took the loss, allowing three runs (two earned) on four hits and two walks with six strikeouts in 4⅔ innings.
The star of the game, which was broadcast live across the United States on Fox Sports, was Lee Jung-hoo.
After Lee’s home run, the broadcast cameras captured several shots of Lee and his father, former coach Lee Jong-beom.
