Giants’ Lee Jung-hoo gets a hit, RBI in MLB debut against Kim Ha-seong’s Padres

Baseball

Published: 29 Mar. 2024, 11:17 Updated: 29 Mar. 2024, 11:46

Giants’ Lee Jung-hoo gets a hit, RBI in MLB debut against Kim Ha-seong’s Padres

Lee Jung-hoo of the San Francisco Giants hits a line out in the third inning during an Opening Day game against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park on Thursday in San Diego, California. [AFP/YONHAP]

Lee Jung-hoo, the Korean outfielder who signed with the San Francisco Giants in December, made his MLB debut on Thursday with a hit and an RBI in the club's Opening Day game against former Kiwoom Heroes teammate Kim Ha-seong — a decorated utility man for the San Diego Padres.

Home team Padres beat the Giants 6-4 at Petco Park in San Diego, California, recording their second win of the season after kicking off the year in Seoul. The Padres picked up their first win against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the second game of the two-game MLB Seoul Series last week.

Lee got his first Major League hit at the top of the fifth inning, with the Giants up by one point and the scoreboard at 1-0. The 25-year-old stepped up to bat with Japan’s Yu Darvish pitching for the Padres, who handed Lee two strikes before the Giants newcomer hit the ball into center field to steal first.

The Padres were quick to respond, picking up two runs in the bottom of the fifth — including one from 2023 Gold Glove winner Kim, who had first singled to center.

Kim Ha-seong of the San Diego Padres hits a single in the fifth inning during an Opening Day game against the San Francisco Giants at Petco Park on Thursday in San Diego, California. [AFP/YONHAP]

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Lee got involved again during the seventh inning, hitting a sac fly to get Giants outfielder Michael Conforto home and put the San Francisco club up 3-2.

San Francisco Giants' Lee Jung-hoo hits an RBI sacrifice fly in the seventh inning during an Opening Day game against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park on Thursday in San Diego, California. [AFP/YONHAP]

But the Padres quickly overtook the visitors, picking up four runs in a huge seventh inning. The Giants put another point on the board in the top of the ninth, with outfielder Michael Conforto homering but it wasn’t enough to avoid an Opening Day loss.

Lee’s work in his first-ever MLB game puts his batting average at .333, with one hit and one RBI.

Lee joined the Giants on a six-year, $113-million contract in December — one of the biggest deals ever signed by a Korean player — after seven seasons in the KBO. He debuted with the then-Nexen Heroes in 2017, overlapping with the Padres' Kim for four seasons until Kim left for the Majors. Lee spent his entire KBO career with the Seoul club, playing his final at-bat last October after a season-ending injury took him out in July.

He picked up a slew of accolades in the Korean league, including 2022 KBO MVP, and recorded the most hits out of any player over his first six seasons in the league.

The MLB got off to a start nationwide on Thursday, a week after the Dodgers and Padres officially opened the 2024 season in Seoul. A total of 24 clubs kicked off their 2024 schedules on the domestic Opening Day — two games were postponed due to weather.

The Giants face the Padres again at Petco Park on Friday evening in California.

The KBO season began last week.