San Francisco Giants’ Jung-Hoo Lee (26) had a successful major league debut.

Lee went 1-for-4 with a walk and an RBI in the Giants’ season opener against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park in San Diego, California, on Monday (June 29), starting in center field.

Lee, who signed a six-year, $113 million contract with San Francisco this offseason, made his major league debut. After leading off the first inning with a walk, Lee hit a 95.1 mph (153.0 kilometers per hour) fastball from San Diego starter Darvish Yu for a double that was foul. He then watched a 74-mph (119.1-kilometer) curveball in the second inning that was called for strikes, but he was forced to strike out on a 94.9-mph (152.7-kilometer) fastball in the third inning.

In his second at-bat with two outs in the top of the third inning after Michael Conforto and Nick Ahmed led off with doubles, Lee again watched Darvish’s pitches closely and chose the first three pitches. However, he looked at the next two balls as well, drawing a three-ball, two-strike full count. Lee then hit a 93-mph (149.7-kilometer) sinker on the sixth pitch, but it sailed straight to the first baseman at first base. The pitch reached 100.4 mph (161.6 km/h), but he wasn’t so lucky. He was lucky that the runner at second barely made it to the bag and it didn’t turn into a double play.

In the second inning of the fifth,

With San Francisco up 1-0, Lee faced Darvish for the third time, this time on a full count. Darvish’s six-pitch 94.8 mph (152.6 km/h) sinker was taken by Lee for a clean single to center field. It was the first hit of his major league career. Center fielder Jackson Merrill raced to the plate, but could only manage a short-bound throw to short. However, Lee’s joy at his first hit was short-lived as he was tagged out by Darvish.

Lee came to bat for the fourth time in the seventh inning with runners on first and third with San Diego tied 2-2. The Padres brought in left-hander Yuki Matsui to face the left-handed hitter, who lined a 92-mph (148.1-kilometer) fastball up the middle that was caught by the center fielder. In the meantime, 스포츠토토 Conforto singled home the tying run, giving Lee the go-ahead RBI. But Ahmed, who advanced to second on a wild pitch, was thrown out at second on a rundown to turn a double play.

Despite Lee’s RBI single, the Giants’ bullpen gave up four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, resulting in a 6-4 loss.

Lee made his Major League debut

Becoming the 12th Korean hitter and 27th Korean player to do so. He became the fifth Korean player to record a hit in his debut when he singled in his third at-bat. He is the second Korean player to record a hit in his debut since Hwang Jae-gyun (1-for-4, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 run) in 2017.

In his postgame interview, Lee said, “It was fun. It feels good to have a dream debut. I don’t have any regrets. I think I played well for my first game. It’s important to do well in the next match,” he said of his debut.

Coincidentally, Lee stepped to the plate only against Japanese pitchers he had faced in international competition. He went 1-for-3 against Darvish, who had gone 1-for-1 with a double and an RBI in the World Baseball Classic (WBC) in March last year, but was left disappointed when he was thrown out at the plate. Against Matsui, who went 1-for-1 at the WBC, he didn’t get a hit, but he did get his first hit of the tournament with a sacrifice fly.

Lee, who struck out and hit a straight ball in his first two at-bats against Darvish, said, “In my first at-bat, I completely lost the pitching battle. The power analysis showed that Darvish throws a lot of sliders from the beginning. I thought, “I’ll just hit whatever comes my way. In the second, a curve came in, and in the third, I was thinking fastball or slider, but something hooked and went by. In the second at-bat, I thought my fastball looked good today, so I thought I was going to get a lot of fastballs. In the second at-bat, I hit a sinker and it had a really good movement. I thought it was a splitter. It was a really good pitch. It was a fastball that I hit, and it was a different pitching pattern than what I had analyzed, so no matter how much you analyze it, it’s all about how the other pitcher is feeling that day,” he said of his encounter with Darvish.

Lee got his first hit of the game, but was thrown out at first base by Darvish.

“It was a green light, so I tried to run,” said Lee, who recalled the situation, “but something like Darvish’s habit came out. His habit of throwing to home plate came out, so I tried to run right away, but I think he took advantage of that as a seasoned pitcher.” Lee stuck his tongue out at Darvish’s skill.

“They’re all the same,” he said of the Japanese pitchers he faced that day. Nationality doesn’t matter,” Lee said, adding, “There’s nothing much different from the international tournament. The field and uniforms are different,” he said.

After his first at-bat ended in a walk, Lee was able to get back on his feet thanks to a few words from his former teammate, Kim Ha-seong (San Diego). “(Kim) said, ‘Don’t worry about it,’ when I got hit by a pitch,” Lee said. “Those words really hit home. Honestly, I felt a lot of regret after being banned, but Ha Sung-hyung’s words made me realize that I shouldn’t worry about it right away.” He expressed his gratitude to Kim Ha-sung.

Kim Ha-seong also commented on the situation,

Saying, “I tried to relax him rather than encourage him. (Lee) Jung-hoo said he wasn’t nervous, but it was his first major league game, so he must have been a little nervous. I kept joking around with him to make him relax as much as possible. Even when I went out to the plate, I talked to him. I didn’t think he would be nervous because he has such a strong heart and good mentality, but I kept talking to him just in case,” said Lee.

After a successful Major League debut, Lee said, 카지노사이트 추천 “It’s almost the first time I’ve played baseball in front of so many people and in such a good stadium. It’s an experience you can’t get unless you play for the national team. In my first at-bat, I felt a little weird. I wasn’t nervous, but it was weird. I’m going to work hard from today until the end of the season,” he laughed.