It took him three games, and the San Francisco Giants’ South Korean rookie Lee Jung-hoo finally has a hit at home.
From the leadoff spot, Lee batted 1-for-4 and scored a run as the Giants defeated the San Diego Padres 3-2 at Oracle Park in San Francisco on Sunday.
Lee led off the bottom of the first inning with a single to center against starter Matt Waldron. It snapped a 0-for-11 slide for Lee, whose previous hit had come against the Los Angeles Dodgers on the road Tuesday.
Lee had seen his batting average dip from .292 to .200 during his hitless skid. Lee did not have another hit Sunday, but his batting average rose slightly to .205.
For the Padres, South Korean shortstop Kim Ha-seong went 1-for-4 with an RBI to pick up his first hit of this three-game series in San Francisco. But the usually sure-handed fielder, who won the 2023 National League Gold Glove at the utility spot, committed two errors, the first time he has been charged with multiple errors in a game in his big league career.
The first of
those errors came in the bottom of the sixth, with the Giants up 2-0. Kim fielded a routine grounder off Lee’s bat but airmailed his throw well over the head of first baseman Jake Cronenworth.
Lee advanced to second on a single by LaMonte Wade Jr. and then to third when Michael Conforto drew a walk. Lee then scored the Giants’ first run on a fielder’s choice grounder by Matt Chapman.
Kim atoned for his mistake on that play, as he grabbed the ball on a tricky short hop and made an off-balance throw to second for the force out in a close play.
But Kim’s next mistake, which came in the eighth inning, proved more costly.
The Giants still trailed 2-1 when they had runners at the corners with one out. Conforto hit a groundball right at Cronenworth, who stepped on the first base bag for the second out and threw to Kim in an attempt to complete the inning-ending double play.
However, the ball popped out of Kim’s glove when he tried to tag the shoulder of the runner, Jorge Soler, and trickled into center field. T
hat allowed pinch runner Tyler Fitzgerald to score the tying run.
As the inning continued, Chapman knocked in the go-ahead run for the Giants with a single to right field.
All three Giants runs were unearned, as they came following Kim’s errors. Kim’s RBI gave the Padres a 2-0 lead in the sixth, but it went for naught.
“It felt good to get an RBI with a runner in scoring position, but I am disappointed to lose this game on my errors,” Kim said. “But we have more games coming up. I’ll just have to play better.”
Kim said the ball slipped out of his hand on the first error and insisted he wasn’t conscious of the fact that it was Lee running down the line.
“Some umpires don’t let us take a rosin bag on the field, and I think it was the case today,” Kim said.
As for the second miscue, Kim said, “I didn’t catch the ball cleanly, and the ball came out when I made contact with the runner.”
“You can make mistakes, but it’s frustrating to make two in the same game,” he added.
The Giants took two out of three at
home against the Padres.
These two National League West rivals have already played seven times this season. They split their four-game series during the final week of March in San Diego.
Their next meeting will be in September in San Diego.
Source: Yonhap News Agency