San Francisco – Jung Hoo Lee was introduced as the Giants marquee free-agent signing last year, he proudly referred to himself as the “Grandson of the Wind.”
After missing most of the 2024 season due to a shoulder injury, the “Grandson of the Wind” has returned with force this season. His impact was on full display in Saturday night’s 4–1 victory over the Seattle Mariners, marking the Giants sixth consecutive win.
“Nights like tonight, it feels like he never missed a beat,” Giants manager Bob Melvin said. “Every game he seems like his timing is that much better, he’s pulling balls, hitting balls up the middle, hitting them in the left center field gap, always balanced. There’s a reason we got him, there’s a reason I’m hitting him in the three hole. He’s been really good.”
Lee went 3-for-4 in Saturday night’s win, recording two doubles, two runs scored, and a stolen base. His first hit snapped Seattle starter Bryce Miller’s stretch of retiring 10 of the first 12 Giants batters, with the other two reaching on walks. He later stole third base following his fourth-inning double, helping set the tone for the Giants’ offense in the middle innings.
Lee’s stolen base was his third of the season and the Giants’ 11th overall, tying the franchise record for most steals through the first eight games since the 1982 season.
Both of Lee’s doubles ignited the Giants’ offense. In the fourth inning, newly crowned Gold Glove third baseman Matt Chapman drove him in for the game’s opening run with an RBI double. Two batters later, Mike Yastrzemski followed with an RBI single to right, scoring Chapman.
Lee and Chapman repeated the sequence in the sixth inning. Lee led off with a double, and Chapman promptly brought him home with another RBI double. Three batters later, Wilmer Flores drove in Chapman to extend the lead.
“It’s really fun to hit behind him,” Chapman said. “He gets on base a lot, so I enjoy hitting behind him for sure. Everybody in this room believes in him and knows how good he is, and that swing is going to be successful for a long time.”
“If I get on base, I just know that something is going to happen,” Lee said. “So having Chapman and (Heliot Ramos) back there is pretty good.”
Following Saturday night’s performance, Lee is now batting .321 on the season and riding a six-game hitting streak. His offensive spark, along with contributions from Matt Chapman, helped support a strong outing from starting pitcher Robbie Ray, who earned his second win of the year.
Ray delivered six solid innings, allowing just one run—a solo homer by Seattle’s Dylan Moore in the fifth—on four hits. He recorded two strikeouts while issuing five walks. While it wasn’t his sharpest command-wise, manager Bob Melvin emphasized the importance of Ray’s ability to go six innings, especially after the bullpen was heavily taxed in Friday’s 11-inning home opener.
”He’s pitched differently almost every time out this year,” Melvin said. “Sliders, changeups, maybe he got squeezed a little bit at the bottom there after a bit, but he knows how to pitch and gave us six innings today, which was needed.”
The win improves the Giants to 7–1, marking their best eight-game start since 2003 and just the fifth time in the San Francisco era that they’ve opened a season with seven wins in their first eight games. Saturday’s victory also secured the series win over the Mariners—their first against Seattle since September 2020.
The Giants will look to complete the sweep on Sunday, with Jordan Hicks set to take the mound in the series finale.
Photo by SFGiants/X
