Jung Hoo Lee's inside-the-park homer makes Giants history in loss to Dodgers
LOS ANGELES - In April, when the Dodgers were at Oracle Park, Los Angeles catcher Dalton Rushing said something rude as Jung Hoo Lee was lying at the plate with an apparent injury.
Lee was fine, but still, rude is rude and Logan Webb hit Rushing with a pitch the next time Rushing was in the lineup. Thursday at Dodger Stadium, Lee wound up face-to-face with Rushing at the plate again, sliding in headfirst with his first career inside-the-park home run, the San Francisco Giants' one big moment in a 5-2 loss to Los Angeles.
Lee got up with an exuberant shout and pumped his fists after tying the game with his opposite-field flick, which kicked off the side wall in left and eluded Teoscar Hernandez as first Eric Haase and then Lee came dashing around.
"I'm not one of those players that show a lot of emotions on the field," Lee said, with Justin Han interpreting, "but today that home run tied the game, and then it just came out from inside of me."
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"Jungy has really come out of his shell, I think, the last couple months, and anytime you see him emotional, it's pretty fun," manager Tony Vitello said, adding later, "The whole group, the more personality we can show, and the more attitude we can show, we might be able to win a few more of these games that kind of seem to have those swing moments in the middle."
Third-base coach Hector Borg, who's been under fire in his first year at the spot for some poor decisions with runners, waved Lee in.
Dodgers 5, Giants 2
San Francisco
AB
R
H
BI
BB
SO
Avg.
Totals
29
2
2
2
3
10
Lee rf
3
1
1
2
0
0
.267
Arraez 2b
4
0
0
0
0
0
.302
Schmitt dh
4
0
0
0
0
4
.276
Devers 1b
4
0
1
0
0
1
.247
Ramos lf
4
0
0
0
0
0
.265
Adames ss
3
0
0
0
1
2
.218
Chapman 3b
3
0
0
0
0
2
.224
Gilbert cf
2
0
0
0
1
1
.222
Haase c
2
1
0
0
1
0
.300
Los Angeles
AB
R
H
BI
BB
SO
Avg.
Totals
31
5
8
5
4
9
Smith dh
3
1
1
1
1
2
.258
Freeman 1b
4
0
0
0
0
1
.270
Tucker rf
4
0
0
0
0
1
.253
Pages cf
3
0
0
0
1
0
.306
Muncy 3b
3
2
0
0
1
0
.266
Hernández lf
4
1
3
0
0
1
.262
Rushing c
3
0
0
0
1
3
.288
Kim 2b
2
0
1
1
0
1
.274
a-Call ph
1
1
1
2
0
0
.310
Espinal 2b
1
0
0
0
0
0
.194
Rojas ss
3
0
2
1
0
0
.284
San Francisco
000
020
000_2
2
1
Los Angeles
110
003
00x_5
8
0
a-singled for Kim in the 6th.
E_Devers (3). LOB_San Francisco 4, Los Angeles 6. 2B_Hernández 2 (7). HR_Lee (3), off Sheehan; Smith (4), off Roupp. RBIs_Lee 2 (16), Smith (18), Kim (9), Call 2 (7), Rojas (6).
Runners left in scoring position_San Francisco 0; Los Angeles 4 (Smith, Kim, Freeman, Tucker). RISP_San Francisco 0 for 0; Los Angeles 3 for 11.
Runners moved up_Freeman. GIDP_Espinal.
DP_San Francisco 1 (Adames, Arraez, Devers).
San Francisco
IP
H
R
ER
BB
SO
NP
ERA
Roupp, L, 5-4
5
1-3
6
4
4
2
7
105
3.49
Gage
1-3
2
1
1
1
1
21
1.47
Borucki
1
1-3
0
0
0
0
0
13
4.70
Brubaker
1
0
0
0
1
1
13
3.66
Los Angeles
IP
H
R
ER
BB
SO
NP
ERA
Sheehan, W, 3-1
6
2
2
2
2
6
97
4.54
Henriquez, H, 1
1
0
0
0
0
1
17
3.94
Vesia, H, 4
1
0
0
0
1
1
21
3.14
Scott, S, 4-4
1
0
0
0
0
2
9
1.47
Inherited runners-scored_Gage 2-2, Borucki 2-0. HBP_Sheehan (Lee).
ABS Challenge_Rushing (Strike-Confirmed); Sheehan (Ball-Overturned to Strike); Roupp (Ball-Overturned to Strike); Hernández (Strike-Overturned to Ball).
Pitch timer violations_Sheehan (pitcher).
Umpires_Home, Marvin Hudson; First, Ryan Blakney; Second, Brian Walsh; Third, James Jean.
T_2:48. A_51,048 (56,000).
"I got lucky for sure," Lee said of the carom off the side wall, "and Borgy gave me the OK to go."
"That one's damned if you do, damned if you don't," Vitello said of Borg's decision. "It's a chaos play, so on their side of the ball defensively, you can't fault that things aren't executed perfectly. If they are executed perfectly, you're out, you know. It's a deal where you push the envelope, and I think regardless if you're going to stop or send there, Jung Hoo pushed the envelope and never slowed down at any moment. (Slowing down) is where you get into trouble."
It was Lee's first-ever inside-the-park home run - he never even had one in a youth league, he said. It was the first inside-the-park home run ever by a Giants player at Dodger Stadium, two days after Haase became the first Giants catcher ever with a two-homer game there.
It was the first inside-the-park homer by any Giants player against the Dodgers since Larry Herndon hit one off Fernando Valenzuela on Sept. 22, 1981.
From there, the night turned dim for the Giants, whose offense dried up entirely. They didn't get another runner past first the rest of the way. Casey Schmitt struck out four times, three of them against Dodgers starter Emmet Sheehan.
San Francisco, which was shut out Wednesday night in a game Shohei Ohtani started for L.A., had two hits, total, and struck out nine times Thursday, a worrisome return to the minimal offense of the first month or so of the season.
"We chased up, made him better and really couldn't piece anything together," Vitello said of the Giants' night against Sheehan. "Last night I thought the at-bats, maybe up and down, were a little bit better overall, just kind of saying it off the cuff, because you saw a unique arm last night, too, but yeah, we didn't string anything together."
Landen Roupp had done well in limiting the Dodgers to two runs in the first five innings - they left the bases loaded in the second - but he exited with two on and one out in the sixth, and Matt Gage, so solid this season, couldn't clean things up. He struck out Rushing, then gave up a two-run single to pinch-hitter Alex Call that put the Dodgers back up by two.
Gage then had a 10-pitch battle with Miguel Rojas, who finally lifted a little flare to center that plopped in, scoring Call.
Gage has been outstanding in the first six weeks, allowing two runs over his first 18 innings going into Thursday.
The teams split the four-game series and after the late game at Dodger Stadium, the Giants had to fly to Sacramento for a three-game series that opens Friday evening.
"It's tough to come here and play the Dodgers at their home, for sure," Lee said. "We got two wins, but it would have been better if we had a winning series. But we'll need to put our best effort more, and then next time we get here, try to show the best performance we could do."
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This story was originally published May 15, 2026 at 2:10 AM.