*This content was translated by AI.
Lee Jung-hoo (28, San Francisco Giants) overcame his recent slump and signaled a comeback. After suffering bad luck with several batted balls in the previous day's game (the 12th), he hit a powerful ball that neutralized the opposing shift and recorded a hit.
On the 13th (Korean time), Lee Jung-hoo started as the cleanup hitter and right fielder against the San Diego Padres at Oracle Park in San Francisco, California, USA, recording one hit in four at-bats. Breaking his silence from the previous day's scoreless four at-bats, Lee maintained a season batting average of 0.279.
Like the previous day, his start today was somewhat disappointing. In his first at-bat as the leadoff hitter in the second inning, Lee swung and missed at Michael King's fifth pitch—a dropping sweeper—and struck out. In the bottom of the fourth inning with two outs and no runners on base, he hit a strong ball off King's fifth changeup, but it unfortunately went straight toward the left fielder. The batted ball speed was 89.7 mph (approximately 144 km/h), indicating decent quality contact.
However, in his third at-bat, Lee broke through his own misfortune. With the team trailing 2-6 in the bottom of the seventh inning and two outs with no runners on base, Lee smashed King's first-pitch changeup, launching a bullet-like hit reaching 102 mph (approximately 162 km/h). The San Diego Padres deployed an extreme defensive shift, placing their shortstop behind second base to stop Lee's hit, but the ball's speed was so fast that it easily cleared shortstop Xander Bogaerts' reach and resulted in a clean center-hit. Unfortunately, no follow-up hits drove in any runs.
In his final at-bat of the ninth inning with one out and no runners on base, Lee Jung-hoo attempted to attack Mason Miller's 100.8 mph (approximately 162.2 km/h) fastball but was retired on a sacrifice fly to center field.
Meanwhile, San Diego's Song Seong-moon entered the game as a substitute second baseman in the later innings hoping for a turnaround but struck out at the plate and finished the game.
Meanwhile, the game ended with a 7-6 victory for San Diego after a high-scoring affair. The San Francisco Giants took early control with a two-run homer by Rafah El Devers in the first inning and a solo home run by Shea Whitcomb in the second, leading 3-2, but they surrendered the lead due to San Diego's powerful hitting.
San Diego solidified their advantage with Dustin Harris's two-run single in the second inning, Jackson Merrill's solo homer in the third, and Fernando Tatis Jr.'s home run in the sixth. The San Francisco Giants narrowed the gap to one point with Drew Caberner's solo homer and Drew Gilbert's two-run homer in the eighth inning but could not overcome Miller's wall in the ninth and fell short.
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*This content was translated by AI.
