SAN FRANCISCO On Sunday, the Giants’ injury problems got worse. The Giants lost center fielder Jung Hoo Lee to a dislocated left shoulder less than an hour after placing Michael Conforto on the 10-day injured list with a right hamstring strain and scratching Patrick Bailey from the starting lineup due to a viral illness. This setback marred the team’s 6-5 walk-off viOraclectory over the Reds in 10 innings at Oracle Park.
Lee hurt himself trying to catch Jeimer Candelario’s bases-clearing double off Kyle Harrison in the first inning. Lee was making his first appearance back in the field since fouling a ball off his left foot on Wednesday. After going down, Lee instantly gripped his left shoulder and did not come up for several minutes. Mike Yastrzemski and Heliot Ramos, two other outfielders, urgently called for team trainers to come out of the dugout and check on him.
After a while, Lee stood up and left the game, but as he did so, Dave Groeschner, the head athletic trainer, appeared to be holding Lee’s left arm still. To ascertain the extent of the injury, Lee will get an MRI on Monday, according to manager Bob Melvin. Not very good, Melvin remarked. “When he hit the wall and he went down and didn’t get up, I didn’t have a great feeling about it.
Lee, who started Sunday batting, was replaced in the game by Tyler Fitzgerald.262 with two home runs and a.641 OPS in 36 games since signing a six-year, $113 million contract with the Giants during the winter. Along with Conforto, Jorge Soler (right shoulder strain), Tom Murphy (left knee sprain), Nick Ahmed (left wrist sprain), and Austin Slater (concussion), Lee is the sixth Giants position player to be sidelined in the past week. The Giants may decide to elevate Marco Luciano, their top prospect, as Lee is expected to head to the injured list. Luciano is the only player still available for a callup from the 40-man roster. Recalling catcher Jakson Reetz and increasing Blake Sabol’s outfield playing time is an additional option.
We’re experiencing that at the moment,” Melvin remarked. It occasionally occurs in clusters. Right now, it appears to be the case. On Sunday, the Giants overcame Lee’s absence thanks to Harrison’s strong performance. After an unsteady start, he shut out the Reds for four scoreless innings, allowing San Francisco’s bats to rally for a five-run fifth inning that was highlighted by a towering two-run shot by LaMonte Wade Jr. off Reds right-hander Frankie Montas.
Wade would have merely struck out at Oracle Park if his second home run of the season hadn’t narrowly cleared the right field bricks. With a launch angle of 50 degrees, it was tied for the highest on an over-the-wall home hit since Statcast started keeping track in 2015. The other two were J.D. Martinez with the Tigers on May 15, 2015, and Xander Bogaerts with the Red Sox on August 13, 2021.
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