Jung Hoo Lee came through with a clutch two-out, two-strike bit of hitting in the 7th that Giants fans have come to expect from their new center fielder.
No period of adjustment appears necessary for Jung Hoo Lee.
Under an onslaught of newness during his first weeks in the MLB, the Korean centerfielder has calmly brushed his jet-black hair from his eyes and got down to business.
You’re welcome. pic.twitter.com/xWdhNQkP6u
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) March 30, 2024
He’s coming out of shell on the base path after being picked off immediately after collecting his first career hit (his first caught stealing in tonight’s game a rite of passage).
The defense in center has been solid but for a brutal baptism in the Oracle afternoon sun, and a couple of strong throws to the infield sent Dave Flemming and Javy Lopez into a tizzy during tonight’s broadcast.
His work with a bat in his hands over 13 games warranted an in-depth analysis from Andrew Baggarly. The low batting average (considering he’s used to hitting .340 in the KBO) and the lack of power results has got to be frustrating on a personal level, but all metrics and analytics point to elite behavior. It’s easy for the eyes to spot it as well: the loud contact, the level swing, the ability to adjust, the refusal to chase out of the zone, the willingness to take/study pitches, as well as hit behind in the count. 16 games into his career and Lee has rarely looked overwhelmed or impressed by the offerings of his opponents.
With that being said, it’s a subtle skill set. What Lee brings to the table is dishware, rarely the main course. The opportunity for an opposite field single to swing the game in your favor comes a lot less often than a home run.
But Monday’s come-from-behind win over Miami was defined by putting the ball in play, so it was only fitting that a 2-out, 2-strike RBI single off the bat of Lee turned the tide for the San Francisco Giants.
Jung Hoo Lee ties the game pic.twitter.com/qDVfkat7E5
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) April 16, 2024
With runners on first and second and nursing a 1-run lead in the 7th, Miami manager Skip Schumacher swapped a wild George Soriano for southpaw Andrew Nardi to face the Giants leadoff hitter.
Lee took the first three pitches, putting him in a 2-1 count, and ready to attack the fourth offering from Nardi. Another low-90s fastball in a vulnerable location—Lee fouled it back for strike two. A hittable pitch unscathed, that felt like Lee’s chance to get the Giants back in it. Close game, a batter hitting with a runner in scoring position, San Francisco fans had been trained to expect the worst—but once again, Lee defied our expectations.
In protect mode, he spoiled consecutive sweeping sliders from Nardi that cruised across the plate and ended up in the opposite batter’s box. The count at 2-2, Nardi still had a pitch to play with, and if he could do it all over again, I’m sure he would’ve chose to keep slinging those outside sliders until Lee missed one (not likely) or he took one. But the Marlins’ reliever lugged a 12.47 ERA up to the mound with him on Monday—poise, confidence, clarity, élan nowhere in sight. Lee fighting off those breaking balls spooked him, clouded his judgement, I suppose he thought it best to try and surprise Lee with a fastball. It wasn’t a bad one, but it didn’t work. Lee spotted it out of the hand, and instead of trying to pull it (which led to a mini-slump against LA) he let the pitch travel and shot it through the hole at short. Yaz scored easily, knotting the game at 3, and extending the 7th for pinch-hitter Wilmer Flores to knock home the lead-run with a two-strike, two-out single of his own.
If nobody got me, I know Wilmer Flores got me pic.twitter.com/4k8pWOdbcC
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) April 16, 2024
Those two singles shot the Giants win probability up by 40%. A probability that looked bleak after facing Miami’s Edward Cabrera for six innings.
In his first start of the season, the 26-year-old Cabrera had the Giants’ hitters flummoxed—flummoxed by his low-90’s change-up (is that basically a sinker?), flummoxed by his unwillingness to throw his fastball (19 of 91 pitches), flummoxed by home plate umpire Laz Diaz’s strike zone.
All told, it wasn’t a great night to be a Giant with a bat in your hands.
Cabrera, known to have a bit of a wild hair, attacked the zone from the get-go. 20 of the 23 first pitches he threw to batters were strikes. He took advantage of San Francisco’s willingness to take a pitch to put them on their heels. With count leverage, Cabrera played his curveball off his offspeed, then feathered in a slider. All in all, he racked up 10 strikeouts (6 swinging and 4 looking), with 17 whiffs, 21 called strikes while hitters were only able to put 11 balls in play. 5 went for hits (none of them for extra bases).
The offense generated against was minimal. Michael Conforto brought Lee home on a well-struck single in the 4th. The loudest hit came from LaMonte Wade Jr.’s single off the wall in the 6th after a couple of frustrating strikeouts, but he was caught stealing to end the inning a couple batters later.
Cabrera’s aggressiveness on the mound was mirrored by Miami’s approach against Kyle Harrison at the plate. The southpaw threw 31 pitches through the first two innings and the Marlins had collected 6 hits and knocked in 3 runs.
The reigning NL batting champ Luis Arráez singled on the first pitch Harrison threw. Avisaíl García homered on the first pitch of the 2nd. After consecutive two-out singles from #foreverGiant Otto Lopez and a trademark all-upper body lunge at a pitch in the dirt from Arráez, Bryan de la Cruz jumped on a first pitch change-up that tailed away from a diving Michael Conforto, skirting under his glove for a two-run double.
The Giants’ lefty settled in after the 2nd, limiting the Marlins bats to just two singles and a walk through the 6th. Once the offense pieced together 3 runs in the top of the 7th, Tyler Rogers, Ryan Walker and Camilo Doval were able to close out the final 9 outs.
Doval, in only his third game of the year, took his sweet time getting to the mound with two outs in the 8th, which didn’t faze him in the slightest but appeared to make Skip Schumacher’s head explode.
Skip Schumaker was ejected from the game after a chaotic sequence of events pic.twitter.com/1e7ek2j5M1
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) April 16, 2024
Tranquilo stranded Jazz Chisholm at second to end the 8th before a K of de la Cruz stranded Arráez at first and secured Doval’s second save.
That’s a K … and a W
Giants Postgame Live is airing now on NBC Sports Bay Area and streaming here: https://t.co/kTu9EqWuoh pic.twitter.com/ik1cISlHgP
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) April 16, 2024