Lee Jeong-hoo, '159km/h' bullet hits production! Season's second 3-hit explosive game → Batting average 0.246 'Season high'

*This content was translated by AI.

San Francisco Giants' Lee Jung-hoo (28) recorded his second three-hit game of the season, completely erasing his early-season slump. It was not merely an increase in the number of hits, as he has been consistently generating batted balls with speeds that are far from poor among Major League Baseball (MLB) hitters.

Lee Jung-hoo, playing as the cleanup hitter and right fielder, delivered a standout performance with 3 hits in 4 at-bats, 1 RBI, and 1 run scored in the final game of the three-game away series against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati, Ohio, on the 17th (Korea time), leading his team to a 3-0 victory in the 2026 Major League regular season.

Lee Jung-hoo's bat was on fire, recording six hits in just the three-game series against Cincinnati. His batting average, which had hovered in the low .100s early in the season, surged to .246 (16 hits in 65 at-bats) thanks to his performance on this day. His batting average for the month of April also rose to .255, clearly tracing an upward trajectory.

The rebound in ranking is also dazzling. Among the 186th batters who met the Major League batting requirements, he jumped to a joint 90th place, successfully securing a mid-tier position. Along with this, his OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging percentage) surged from 0.561 to 0.686, proving himself to be a core component of the team's offense. In OPS, he ranks fourth on the team.

Above all, the most encouraging aspect of Lee Jeong-hoo's recent performance is the quality of his batted balls. Although he struck out in his first at-bat, the exit velocity of his line drive to the gap between center and right field in his second at-bat in the bottom of the fifth inning with one out reached a remarkable 99 mph (approximately 159 km). Throughout this three-game series, Lee Jeong-hoo's batted ball speeds have been exceptionally fast. He is combining precision with power, posing a threat to opposing pitchers. Ultimately, in baseball, which is a game of hitting hard-hit balls far, opposing pitchers have been unable to contain Lee Jeong-hoo's "hard-hit" balls.

Lee Jung-hoo emerged as the hero in the bottom of the 7th inning with two outs and a runner on second base while the score remained 0-0. The preceding batter, Matt Chapman, broke the deadlock with a two-run double, and Lee Jung-hoo followed by driving a 95.8 mph sinker from left-handed pitcher Brock Burke on the third pitch to left-center field for a two-run single, extending the lead to 2-0 with a go-ahead RBI. In his final at-bat of the 9th inning, after falling behind 1-0 in the count, Lee Jung-hoo also singled off left-handed pitcher Sam Moll's 80.6 mph sweeper, adding another hit to complete his second three-hit game of the season. This came 17 days after he recorded three hits in five at-bats against the San Diego Padres on the 1st.

With Lee Jeong-hoo's perfect performance, the San Francisco Giants added a stellar outing from starter Landon Leif, who pitched six innings allowing just one hit and two walks while striking out six without surrendering a run, breaking their four-game losing streak. Finishing the season with a 7-12 record, the San Francisco Giants secured a solid foundation for their comeback by gaining the surefire card of "revived Lee Jeong-hoo."

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*This content was translated by AI.