When Lee Jung-hoo succeeded in diving catch, major league legend Justin Verlander, who shines in the third inning of the Cy Young Award, raised his right hand.
Lee Jung-hoo, who started the game against the Los Angeles Angels in the 2025 Major League Baseball held at the Anaheim Stadium of Anaheim on the 21st (Korea time), had no hits in five at-bats. He had no hits in five consecutive games and his batting average for the season fell from 0.355 to 0.333.
However, more than half of the hits were hit, and most of all, the diving catch that saved starting pitcher Gerberlander shone.
San Francisco led 3-1 in the sixth inning. Angels No. 2 hitter Luis Lengifo entered the batter's box.
It was an inning that could be a crisis for San Francisco and an opportunity for the Angels, given that Verlander, who was a starter, was close to 80 pitches and started from the top of the Angels batting order.
Verlander lost strength unlike the beginning. Lengiro, who took the batter's box for the third time against Verlander, was persistent.
Lengifo persistently bothered Verlander. He showed his determination to get on base as the first batter by cutting up to nine pitches that Verlander threw from the full count.
Lengifo hit a 93.1 mile fastball on Verlander's 10th pitch.
At high speed, the ball headed toward center fielder Lee Jung-hoo. The speed and direction of the ball that you can feel the hit. However, Lee caught the hit as he fell. The probability of the hit was 0.870 at the time.
Verlander raised his right hand. Lengifo, who was confident of a hit, smiled puzzled as he stepped on the first base.
Verlander, who blocked the first batter through Lee Jung-hoo's defense, struck out Mike Trout, the next batter. Verlander then blocked Jorge Soler with a fly ball to the left field after a 10-pitch match, finishing the sixth inning and recording a quality start.
Coincidentally, Lee Jung-hoo was robbed of a hit at bat after a good defense.
Lee Jung-hoo was placed on a 0-2 unfavorable ball count after the first foul, with the bad luck of the ball outside the two-pitch strike zone being declared a strike.
However, after picking out all three balls, he bullied the pitcher by cutting six, seven and eight pitches in a row.
Lee Jung-hoo pushed an 87.8-mile changeup to send it to left field. A hit or even a double was expected. However, Angels left fielder Tyler Ward put this ball out with a diving catch.
On this day, Lee Jung-hoo failed to produce hits in the previous three at-bats. He failed to target Angels starter Yusei Kikuchi. Starting with a fly ball to the center field in the first inning, he grounded out to the first base in the third inning and struck out in the fifth inning.
Lee Jung-hoo was on the operating table after hitting his shoulder against the outfield fence while defending last season, and ended the season after just 37 games.
However, he surprised the bench with his hustle play from an exhibition game where victory or defeat was not important. At an exhibition game with the Texas Rangers, he caught hits toward the center field and left field on the warning track.
"I felt like I was telling him to take it slow. I didn't want to see him hit the fence," San Francisco coach Bob Melvin said after the game. "But he had nothing like that. Lee said, "I was going to catch the ball. It was a great play that made (defense) look easy."
Lee Jung-hoo showed off his defense in the opening game of the home game as well. With the bases loaded with two outs in the seventh inning, when the score was tying 8-8, he garnered a long hit. Local broadcasters said, "Lee saved the game," and he was also selected as "Play of the Game."
The San Francisco Giants have praised Lee's performance this season. "He's playing really great baseball," Melvin said of Lee. He runs well, jumps well, and defends well. He has excellent bat capability."
San Francisco Giants first baseman Logan Webb said, "It's really exciting to see Lee. He has only shown a little bit of what he is capable of. It's fun to see all of our players keep getting better." 메이저사이트
Despite stellar defense by Lee Jung-hoo, the San Francisco Giants lost to the Angels 4-5. He entered the ninth inning with a 4-1 lead, but allowed a run by pushing, before being hit by Joe Adele with the bases loaded with one out.
Angels starter Kikuchi was tied for one run until the fifth inning, but Sam Huff hit a two-run home run to changed pitcher Brock Burke in the sixth inning against 1-1.
Starting pitcher Justin Verlander won the starting showdown with Kikuchi by pitching six hits (one homer) with six strikeouts and one run in six innings, but postponed his first win to the next.