SAN FRANCISCO -- Giants fans are falling hard and fast for Jung Hoo Lee.
The Giants celebrated the return of their starting center fielder by introducing a new Jung Hoo Crew section for weekend home games, but the fan support has continued to grow organically during the middle of the week.
On Monday night, a new fan club known as the "Hoo Lee Gans" -- a clever play on the word “hooligans” -- showed up in the Oracle Park stands to cheer on Lee. The 26-year-old Korean star didn’t disappoint, as he found himself in the middle of the action in a 2-0 series-opening loss to the Reds that snapped the Giants’ seven-game winning streak.
Lee made two sliding catches in center field to help back a stellar start from Logan Webb, who struck out 10 over seven scoreless innings, and then extended his on-base streak to nine games to start the year after reaching on a two-out single that sparked a last-ditch rally against Reds ace Hunter Greene in the bottom of the ninth.
“Jung Hoo is playing great baseball,” manager Bob Melvin said. “He’s running well. He’s getting good jumps. He’s playing great defense. He’s swinging the bat.”
Greene needed only 83 pitches to work eight scoreless innings and had a shot at a Maddux after retiring LaMonte Wade Jr. and Willy Adames on eight pitches to open the ninth, but Lee -- buoyed by the 30,138 fans who chanted his name to the beat of a drum -- helped spoil his effort by lining a 99.7 mph fastball to right field to give the Giants only their fourth hit of the game.
Matt Chapman followed with a six-pitch walk to get Greene’s pitch count up to 104 and finally force him out of the game, but Heliot Ramos then lined out to left field to seal San Francisco’s first shutout loss -- and only second defeat -- of the year.
“We’re playing great baseball,” Webb said. “Tonight sucked, that we lost. It’s weird to say, but if there’s any way to lose a game, it’s like that. It’s a guy going out there and pitching a hell of a game against us. That’s baseball. ”
With Webb and Greene both dealing in a rematch of their Opening Day faceoff, the game remained scoreless until Blake Dunn delivered a two-run double in the eighth, though Lee came close to putting San Francisco on the board in the sixth.
After Willy Adames reached on a two-out single, Lee smoked a 99.6 mph fastball from Greene deep out to right-center field, but the 103.7 mph drive ended up dying at the warning track. The ball traveled a projected 384 feet and would have been a home run in 19 out of 30 MLB ballparks, per Statcast.
“I felt it was going to go over, but the wind was blowing in, so we can’t do anything about the environment,” said Lee, who’s batting .333 with an .885 OPS out of the three-hole for the Giants this year.
Lee is still getting used to playing at Oracle Park after missing most of last season with a left shoulder injury, but he already seems to be adapting well to center field here. He raced in to make a sliding grab and rob TJ Friedl of a potential leadoff hit in the top of the first inning and then made a similar play to take a hit away from Jeimer Candelario to start the fifth.
“It's super exciting,” Webb said. “He's only scratching the surface of his abilities, and it's fun for all of us to watch because it's a pleasure to see him keep getting better.”
Lee’s play on both sides of the ball thrilled the Hoo Lee Gans, a group of 51 fans (a nod to his jersey number) who earned plenty of screen time on the Oracle Park scoreboard after wearing matching white T-shirts and fire-inspired wigs. Lee said he didn’t see the group since they were sitting in the third deck, but he appreciated the wave of support he’s received from fans over the Giants’ first homestand of the year.
“Starting from last season, I didn’t play too much, but coming in here right now, I can feel that the love from the fans is amazing,” Lee said via interpreter Justin Han.