By admin 
SAN FRANCISCO – Jung Hoo Lee extended his Major League-best hitting streak to 17 games Tuesday night, enticing the Oracle Park crowd to serenade his at-bats.
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Such was the case in the fifth inning, when Lee responded with a two-run double that pulled the Giants within 3-2 of the Washington Nationals.
Then Lee got stranded at third base as that rally died — like so many others in this 6-3 defeat.
Tuesday night’s theme was painfully redundant for the Giants (27-41). They stranded a runner at third base in each of the first five innings, as well as in the seventh on pinch-hitter Buddy Kennedy’s bases-loaded flyout.
Before all was said and done, Bryce Eldridge belted his third home run of the season with two outs in the ninth, a 405-shot on a 98.2-mph fastball.
To avoid their sixth sweep in 22 series this season, the Giants must win Wednesday’s 12:45 p.m. start, with Robbie Ray (4-6) opposing Foster Griffin (7-2, 3.63) as dueling southpaws.
Lee is batting .500 amid his 17-game hitting streak, which he extended with a third-inning single before his fifth-inning, two-RBI ripper. He went 2-for-5 Tuesday and is 29-for-51 since returning May 29 from a back strain. His 4-for-5 effort Monday night couldn’t prevent a 4-3 loss that opened this homestand.
“Prior to the injury, it’s not like he was struggling. Maybe a few days off there gave him a little reset,” Giants manager Tony Vitello said before Tuesday’s game. “… He’s in a good groove in all facets of the game. So the more and more he plays in this league, in this park, in this country, around the guys, the comfort level continues to increase and the best version of him comes out.”
In the fifth, Lee pulled a full-count, 94.6-mph fastball past first base, scoring Rafael Devers and Luis Arraez, the latter of whom was running on the pitch and got waved home by third-base coach Gary Pettis. The deficit was down to 3-2, and yet, the Giants left the bases loaded.
They stranded 13 baserunners and went 3-for-12 with runners in scoring position.
In Monday night’s 4-3, come-from-ahead loss, the Giants stranded 12 and went 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position, although Bryce Eldridge did come through with a go-ahead double in the eighth before a bullpen move backfired in the ninth and foiled Logan Webb’s potential winning decision.
The Giants promptly trailed 2-0 just two batters into the game, courtesy of Luis Garcia Jr.’s two-run homer onto the right-field arcade after James Wood’s leadoff single off starter Adrian Houser (2-6).
Here is how the Giants’ inning-by-inning rallies died:
*First inning: Luis Arraez teased fans with a potential inside-the-park home run past center fielder Jacob Young’s outstretched glove, but Arraez was stopped for a triple by Pettis. Willy Adames then struck out.
*Second inning: The bases loaded up after Bryce Eldridge’s double and ensuing walks to Matt Chapman and Daniel Susac (10-pitch at-bat). Then Jonah Cox struck out and Casey Schmitt flew out.
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*Third inning: Lee’s two-out single not only extended his hit streak to 17 games, it sent Adames to third, followed by Eldridge’s inning-ending groundout.
*Fourth inning: Cox tripled off the right-field wall on a two-out, two-strike, opposite-field hit. Schmitt lined out to shortstop on the next pitch.
*Fifth inning: Devers, after a leadoff walk, hustled to third on Arraez’s single off Garcia’s glove at first. That got Alvarez pulled for Brad Lord, who started Adames 2-0 before striking him out looking on a 94.5-mph sinker.
*Seventh inning: Kennedy fell to 0-for-6 this season (six games) when his 348-foot flyout to center left the bases loaded.
NOTES
— Schmitt and Devers went a combined 0-for-9 batting atop the Giants’ order.
— Eldridge, in his first at-bat, doubled over the first-base bag to safely reach base for his 16th consecutive game. That came after his go-ahead double in Monday night’s loss.
— A bright spot from the beleaguered bullpen remains Dylan Smith. As the Giants’ fifth pitcher of the night, he inherited a bases-loaded, no-out situation in the seventh, and while he forced in a run with a walk, he struck out Nasim Nunez to keep the Giants within 5-2. That run was charged to reliever Erik Miller, who yielded a single, two walks and a run-scoring wild pitch in facing three batters.
— In between a leadoff double in the second and a one-out triple in the fifth, Houser retired 10 in a row.
— Sam Hentges relieved Houser in the fifth and was greeted by James Wood’s RBI grounder into left field, scoring Young for a 3-0 Nationals’ lead. Ending that rally, with two aboard, was left fielder Casey Schmitt’s acrobatic catch as he twisted and flopped onto the warning track.
— Tristan Beck allowed a ninth-inning, RBI triple to Daylen Lile after C.J. Adams reached on a Chapman error.
— Pitcher Tyler Mahle (hamstring) looked “pretty good” in a simulated game but Vitello did not state whether he’d come off the IL on Thursday when eligible.
— Outfielder Heliot Ramos (quadriceps) ramped up his running and is close to resume hitting but no timetable is set for his return.
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This story was originally published June 9, 2026 at 10:16 PM.