Dodgers’ Kim Hye-seong makes defensive gaffe, goes hitless in loss

It was a day that Los Angeles Dodgers utility man Kim Hye-seong would rather forget.

Kim made a gaffe in center field while going 0-for-4 at the plate as the Dodgers lost to the Arizona Diamondbacks 9-5 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Monday (local time).

Making his third start in center field, Kim lost sight of a fly ball hit by Eugenio Suarez with runners at first and second in the top of the first inning. It appeared to be a routine fly, but the ball dropped in no-man’s land between Kim and right fielder Teoscar Hernandez, who scrambled toward Kim in an unsuccessful attempt to catch the ball.

The play was scored as a double as the Diamondbacks scored their first run of the game.

Batting ninth, Kim had three groundouts and a strikeout, as his batting average dropped from .452 to .400.

For his final at-bat, Kim stepped in with two outs and runners at first and second in the bottom of the ninth, and the Dodgers trailing 9-5. With the dangerous Shohei Ohtani, who had homered earlier in the game, waiting on deck, Kim couldn’t keep the rally going by grounding out to second baseman Ketel Marte.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts later blamed Kim’s fielding miscue on his inexperience.

“I don’t know if it was twilight or what. He just lost it,” Roberts said. “I think, at that point in time, he’s just trying to find the baseball and not really kind of letting the guys to the side know that he is having trouble. But that’s more experience and kind of an outlier play.”

In addition to center field, Kim has also played at second base and shortstop since his call-up from the minors on May 3.

Also in Major League Baseball on Monday, Lee Jung-hoo of the San Francisco Giants drove in the team’s only run with his team-best 13th double of the season, as the Giants fell 3-1 to the Kansas City Royals at Oracle Park in San Francisco.

The Giants managed just two hits off Royals starter Kris Bubic through the first seven innings, with Lee managing two groundouts and a strikeout against the left-hander.

Down 2-0 with two outs in the bottom of the eighth, the Giants had runners at first and second for Lee, who hit a double off reliever John Schreiber to plate his team’s first run.

But the Giants didn’t score again and lost by two.

Lee is batting .276 for the season after ending April with a .319 average. He is only hitting .203 with five extra-base hits in 17 games this month, compared with a .324 average and 14 extra-base hits in 26 games in April.