Lee breaks out as Giants nudge past D-backs in 10 innings

PHOENIX -- For Giants center fielder Jung Hoo Lee, the past couple of months have not gone his way.

Entering Wednesday’s 6-5 win over the Diamondbacks in 10 innings at Chase Field, Lee had a .182 batting average since May 7. On Wednesday, he once again looked like one of the better hitters in baseball.

After delivering an RBI triple in the first inning to give the Giants a quick two-run lead, Lee finished the night 3-for-5 and just a homer shy of a cycle.

“I think a game like this is going to do wonders for him,” Giants manager Bob Melvin said after the game.

Lee batted over .300 in all seven of his seasons in the KBO from 2017-23. His recent tough stretch with the bat is perhaps unlike anything he has faced in his professional career.

“It wasn't mentally easy,” Lee said. “But as you know, we play every day. Even if I have a bad game, I'm coming in to play another game tomorrow. I just had to keep mentally strong.”

In retrospect, Lee feels that his struggles began when some hard-hit balls stopped falling for hits as they normally would. That run of bad luck carried over to a mental battle, which he said he dealt with for a couple of weeks.

Lee lauded his coaches and teammates for being supportive throughout the past couple of months. Perhaps Wednesday’s game will go down as the turning point for his season.

“I just hope that, starting from today’s game, July, August, September will be great months for me,” Lee said. “Help the team out from now on, give it back to the team.”

Lee had an opportunity to complete the cycle with a home run in his final at-bat in the ninth inning. He said after the game that he wasn’t aware — and that it wasn’t a situation to swing for the fences anyway.

For the Giants, Wednesday’s game appeared to be heading south in the bottom of the ninth. With San Francisco up 5-3, Diamondbacks second baseman Ketel Marte launched a game-tying, two-run home run on a hanging slider from Giants closer Camilo Doval. Doval retired the next three batters in order to send the game to extra innings.

In the top of the 10th, San Francisco responded. With Lee at second as the automatic runner, pinch-hitter Heliot Ramos knocked an infield single up the middle that moved Lee to third. Then, Giants catcher Patrick Bailey delivered a sacrifice fly to give the Giants a 6-5 lead.

With San Francisco out in front again, Melvin gave the ball back to Doval, given that the right-hander had not pitched in a game since Friday. Doval delivered a 1-2-3 10th inning with a pair of strikeouts. It was his first Major League appearance completing two innings since July 14, 2022, against the Brewers.

Despite Doval’s mistake to Marte in the ninth, Melvin said that he was as impressed with Doval on Wednesday as he has been all year.

“His stuff was even better in the last inning,” Melvin said.

Melvin added that Doval “perked up” in the dugout when he learned he would be going back out for the 10th.

“Whatever happened happened,” Doval said of his mindset when he returned to the mound. “It’s a brand new inning. Just get the job done now.”

Doval was the last of five Giants relievers used in Wednesday’s game. Left-hander Erik Miller came through in a pivotal spot.

With San Francisco up 3-1 in the fifth, starter Landen Roupp loaded the bases with nobody out. Miller entered and allowed only one run, preserving San Francisco’s lead.

“That's probably the big reason why we won the game,” Roupp said. “... That's not an easy job. Just to surrender one run right there is unreal. I tip my hat to him for sure.”

The win was especially important for the Giants, who had lost 12 of their past 16 games entering Wednesday. If Lee’s strong performance on Wednesday is any indication of what’s to come for him, the win could have much bigger implications.

“We all know he's a really good hitter,” Melvin said. “Just went through a tough stretch and hopefully he's past that.”