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Giants' Lee Jung-hoo gets better of Dodgers' Kim Hye-seong in California showdown

Published: 22 Apr. 2026, 17:47

San Francisco Giants right fielder Lee Jung-hoo runs the bases during the sixth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Oracle Park on April 21. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

Lee Jung-hoo of the San Francisco Giants collected two hits and drove in a run to take the upper hand over his Los Angeles Dodgers countryman, Kim Hye-seong.

Lee, who batted sixth and started in right field, went 2-for-3 with an RBI to help the Giants edge out the Dodgers 3-1 at Oracle Park in San Francisco on Tuesday.

Lee has shaken off a sluggish start and has raised his batting average from .185 on April 12 to .259 following Tuesday's game. He has seven multihit games for the season, three of which have come in his last five games.

Kim, who started at shortstop and batted seventh, had a hit in his lone at-bat and drew a bases-loaded walk for the Dodgers' only run of the game. Kim, who began the season in Triple-A and was called up on April 5, is batting .333 in 13 games. But the shortstop also committed an error in the first inning that led to all three of the Giants' runs in the first inning.

This was the first meeting of the season between the only two Korean players in MLB at the moment.

On that fateful play in the opening frame, Kim snagged a hard grounder hit by Willy Adames, but from the outfield grass, Kim airmailed his throw into the first-base dugout to allow Adames to take second base.

The Giants then loaded the bases with a single and a walk. After a hit and a sacrifice fly put the Giants up 2-0, Lee lined a single to right field to extend the Giants' lead to 3-0.

Kim singled in the second inning and then worked an eight-pitch walk against Landen Roupp with the bases loaded in the fourth inning to cut the deficit to 3-1.

Lee was thrown out at home in the bottom of the sixth, trying to score from first on a single by Heliot Ramos.

On that Ramos hit, Dodgers center fielder Alex Call lobbed his throw to second baseman Alex Freeland as Lee sprinted around third base on an aggressive send by third base coach Hector Borg.

Freeland's subsequent throw home beat Lee easily, and the Korean outfielder stayed on the ground for a few moments before hobbling back to the dugout.

Lee played one more defensive inning in the seventh before being replaced by Jerar Encarnacion to begin the top eighth.

“I banged up my quad in Washington [over the weekend], and just banged it up again today," Lee told reporters in the clubhouse afterward.

Giants manager Tony Vitello said he expects Lee to play Wednesday against the Dodgers, describing his decision to lift Lee from the game as precautionary.

“Couple tough slides recently, just playing hard," Vitello said. "He, I guarantee, wants to play no matter how he feels. But it probably just kind of aggravated that patch of rough skin from sliding in the way that he has at those two plays at the plate."

Kim, who bats left-handed, was lifted for right-handed pinch hitter Miguel Rojas when lefty reliever Matt Gage took the mound to start the top of the seventh.

Yonhap