The San Francisco Giants’ South Korean rookie Lee Jung-hoo has pushed his career-high hitting streak to six games.
Lee went 1-for-5 with a steal and a run scored in the Giants’ 9-4 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, on Sunday (local time).
Lee did all of his offensive work in the first inning.
He led off the game by hitting a single off the very first pitch from starter Shawn Armstrong. Lee then swiped second base for his second steal of the season and scored the game’s first run on a single by LaMonte Wade Jr.
Lee, however, came up empty in his next four trips to the plate.
Against left-handed reliever Tyler Alexander, Lee lined out to center fielder Jose Siri in the third and flied out to left fielder Randy Arozarena in the sixth. Then in the seventh, Lee hit a flyout to Siri.
Lee faced new reliever Kevin Kelly with two outs in the ninth and popped out to shortstop Niko Goodrum.
Lee’s batting average dropped from .246 to .242. He is tied for second on the Giant
s with 15 hits and tied for fourth with seven runs scored. Only the backup utility player Tyler Fitzgerald has more steals than Lee on the Giants with three.
Also on Sunday, Kim Ha-seong of the San Diego Padres drew a career-high four walks in a 6-3 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.
He got his first walk off starter James Paxton in the second inning. Kim promptly tried to steal second base and was initially ruled safe, before the Dodgers successfully challenged the call and had it overturned. Second baseman Gavin Lux successfully put the tag on the back of Kim’s leg just before the runner touched the bag.
Kim worked another walk in the fourth inning against Paxton. Then facing new pitcher Ryan Brasier in the sixth, Kim walked to load the bases, only to be erased in a double play ball by Luis Campusano.
In the seventh inning, reliever Alex Vesia intentionally walked Kim.
Kim flied out to right field in the ninth against Nick Ramirez.
Despite getting on base four times, Ki
m did not score a run. He is batting .215, but his on-base percentage went from .282 to .316.
Source: Yonhap News Agency