Lee Jung-hoo's hitting streak reaches 17 games in San Francisco's loss

Lee Jung-hoo of the San Francisco Giants is now the owner of the longest hitting streak by a Korean player in MLB history.

Lee went 2-for-5 with two RBIs to extend his hitting streak to 17 games, though the Giants still lost to the Washington Nationals 6-3 at Oracle Park in San Francisco on Tuesday.

With his fifth multihit effort of June, Lee broke a tie with Choo Shin-soo and Kim Ha-seong for the longest hitting streak by a Korean batter.

Choo had a 16-game run while with the Cincinnati Reds in 2013. Kim, currently playing for the Atlanta Braves, also had a 16-game streak in 2023 for the San Diego Padres.

Lee grounded out in the bottom of the second inning before hitting a single in the bottom third to push his streak.

Then in the bottom fifth, he smacked a double down the first base line off reliever Brad Lord to cash in two runs, cutting the Giants' deficit to 3-2.

Lee hit groundouts in his next two at-bats in the seventh and the ninth inning.

Lee is now batting .335 for the season, the second-best mark in MLB behind only Otto Lopez of the Miami Marlins (.341). Lee won two batting titles in the KBO before signing with the Giants in December 2023.

Yonhap