The 'Son of the Wind' Lee Jung-hoo (outfielder) of the San Francisco Giants was silent with no hits. He suffered a complete defeat to Kim Hye-sung (Los Angeles Dodgers) in a 'friendly rivalry,' Japanese sports media Tokyo Sports reported on the 13th (Korean time).
On this day, Lee Jung-hoo started as the No. 6 center fielder in the home game against the Dodgers held at Oracle Park in San Francisco, California. After drawing a walk in the second inning, Lee Jung-hoo was retired on a pop fly to center field in the fourth and seventh innings, and struck out in the ninth inning.
Tokyo Sports noted, "This contrasts sharply with his impressive performance the day before, when he hit a triple and achieved three hits and three RBIs." On that day, Lee Jung-hoo not only struggled against Shohei Ohtani, the Dodgers' starting pitcher, and second pitcher Emmet Sheehan but also had to face an unexpected 'interloper.'
On the other hand, Kim Hye-sung, who played as the No. 7 second baseman for the Dodgers, contributed to the team's victory with additional hits and RBIs.
In the fourth inning, with one out and runners on first and second while trailing 0-1, something that was not a baseball flew near Lee Jung-hoo's head as he was waiting for Sheehan's first pitch. Reactively ducking to avoid it, he was momentarily startled and stepped out of the batter's box, leading the umpire to call a time out.
The live broadcast camera captured a pigeon wandering on the ground. The commentators burst into laughter, saying, "Is that a bird? It's a scene we've never seen before. It's amazing that a fan of Lee Jung-hoo was a pigeon."
Lee Jung-hoo soon returned to the batter's box, but he was retired on a pop fly to center field, missing a scoring opportunity. Local media SF GATE reported, "This pigeon was enough to disrupt Lee Jung-hoo's and the Giants' rhythm with two runners on base."
Meanwhile, there have been famous incidents related to birds in Major League Baseball before. In 2001, a scene became famous when Randy Johnson of the Arizona Diamondbacks hit a pigeon with his fastball, instantly killing it.
In this regard, SF GATE added, "Lee Jung-hoo managed to avoid that bird at the plate. Fortunately, today's bird survived."
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