SF Giants' Lee back in lineup after awkward slide, Dodgers' Rushing addresses viral clip
SAN FRANCISCO - Right fielder Jung Hoo Lee is slated to start on Wednesday night against two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani, and Dodgers catcher Dalton Rushing addressed a video clip that made waves on social media regarding his reaction to Lee’s injury.
Lee, who enters Wednesday with a .259 batting average and .681 OPS, banged up his quad in the bottom of the sixth inning when attempting to score from first base on a single by left fielder Heliot Ramos off right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
Third base coach Hector Borg made an aggressive send after Dodgers center fielder Alex Call lobbed a throw back to the infield, but Los Angeles’ defense nabbed Lee at the plate with feet to spare.
Borg may have tried to take advantage of the wet conditions after heavy rain poured down during the bottom of the sixth, but Dodgers second baseman Alex Freeland made a perfect throw to Rushing, who applied the tag to end the inning. Lee temporarily stayed in the game but was replaced by Jerar Encarnacion beginning in the top of the eighth.
“It was definitely ultra aggressive,” said manager Tony Vitello. “You got two outs. I don’t think you really have time to calculate all this - at least I didn’t when I was doing that in that spot - but you got a two-out hit against one of the best pitchers on the planet. How many of those are you going to get?
“Now, Drew (Gilbert) did take a few really good swings, and then the ball’s wet. … I haven’t seen him, but the relay throw in is lobbed, and there’s kind of extra air under that. And so, you could see it being kind of a play where the defense, who’s rarely sloppy, comes off looking sloppy if it worked out in our favor. Freeland looked, kind of regathered himself and made an accurate throw, so it ends up in their favor.”
As Lee sat on the dirt home plate, cameras caught Rushing walking back to the dugout and making a remark. Several social media posts interpreted Rushing as saying, “(Expletive) ’em,” but Rushing told reporters before Wednesday’s game that wasn’t the case.
“I have been told about (the clip),” Rushing said. “I’m not sure what they made of it. I told everyone that has asked me about it that the first person I asked was Hyeseong (Kim) to make sure he was okay. It’s the biggest thing; that’s all that matters. Hopefully, he didn’t take it the way it was put out. I’ll be sure to say something to him face-to-face tomorrow making sure he’s okay. It was nothing really directed at him. He’s a great guy.”
Rushing didn’t realize that Lee was shaken up following the “weird slide.” The catcher added that he wasn’t frustrated with himself or Lee, adding that Lee was just running hard and “doing what his coach told him to do.”
When Rushing was asked what he did say, he responded that he “used a word, but it was not what was said that was said.” Rushing said he doesn’t really care when he was asked about people attempting to lip-read.
“I play the game hard, and I play with fire,” Rushing said. “Nothing against him, nothing against anyone that’s ever stepped on the field. There’s no direction towards him or anything. I just think some people make something out of nothing.”
Following the Giants’ 3-0 win on Wednesday evening, Lee said he met with the Dodgers’ Hyeseong Kim, a close friend, before the game.
“Not sure what the media was going through, but I met with Kimmy,” Lee said through interpreter Justin Han. “Rushing explained that he wanted to make an (apology) if there was any kind of misunderstanding. Baseball’s baseball. You can always bump into these kinds of situations.”
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This story was originally published April 22, 2026 at 5:59 PM.