San Francisco: Lee Jung-hoo of the San Francisco Giants has pushed his hitting streak to eight games, moving within three of tying his career high. Lee went 1-for-4 in the Giants’ 2-0 loss to the Cincinnati Reds at Oracle Park in San Francisco on Monday.
According to Yonhap News Agency, batting third, Lee grounded out to second in the bottom of the first inning and flied out to center in the fourth inning. In his third time up against starter Hunter Greene in the sixth inning, Lee launched a deep fly to right-center field, only to see the ball die in front of the fence. The ball traveled 384 feet with an exit velocity of 103.7 mph, the third-hardest ball hit by anyone in this game. Statcast noted that the ball would have been a home run at 19 of the 30 parks in Major League Baseball.
Lee kept his hitting streak alive by singling off Greene with two outs in the ninth inning. Greene walked Matt Chapman after Lee’s hit before being pulled, one out away from pitching his second career complete game shutout. Lee also made plays in center field, making a sliding catch on a sinking liner off the bat of leadoff man TJ Friedl in the first and another one on a shallow fly hit by Jeimer Candelario in the fifth.
Lee had an 11-game hit streak as a rookie last year. The South Korean player has also been on base eight games in a row, five shy of a career high from 2024.