The Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants played a 2025 Major League Baseball exhibition game on the 2nd (hereafter Korean time) at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Arizona. Kim Hye-sung started as the 8th shortstop, while Lee Jung-hoo started as the 3rd center fielder.

Before the game started, the two players did not meet while warming up on the field. Lee Jung-hoo, on the road with his teammates, kept an eye on the Dodgers' side, as Kim Hye-sung only entered the stadium just before the game started from the nearby spring camp.

When the national anthem of the United States was played, players from both teams lined up along the first and third base foul lines. After the anthem, Lee Jung-hoo, standing on the first base side, shouted and waved at Kim Hye-sung, who was on the third base side, and Kim also responded with a smile and raised his hand.

During the game, Lee Jung-hoo and Kim Hye-sung met on the field twice. In the first inning during the San Francisco offense, with one out and a runner on third base, Lee hit a one-RBI double that went over the right fielder, scoring the first run. It was a bullet hit with a speed of 109.6 mph (176.4 km/h).

After stepping on second base, Lee Jung-hoo called Kim Hye-sung over for a warm hug. After the game, Lee said about the situation, "I hugged Hye-sung, but he didn’t come in very close. Since it was a defensive situation, we couldn’t talk much then." Kim Hye-sung reflected, "I was just amazed watching Jung-woo hit, he hit really well. I felt that 'Jung-woo is indeed doing great,' and in my at-bat, I just did what I had to do."

In the third inning during the San Francisco offense, with a 2-0 lead and one out with a runner on first base, Lee hit a right-field single that got past the first baseman. Later, with two outs and runners on first and second, Kim Hye-sung caught a ground ball hit by Casey Schmidt and threw to second base. However, the speedy runner Lee Jung-hoo was safe. As it became two outs with the bases loaded, the Dodgers changed pitchers. While the pitcher was being changed and warming up on the mound, Lee Jung-hoo and Kim Hye-sung talked for a while near second base.

Lee Jung-hoo said, "I felt a bit strange because of Hye-sung's toss play that made me safe on second base.... I think I kept saying, 'Just play confidently, just do what you usually do, don’t be nervous, just play confidently.'"

Coincidentally, as Lee Jung-hoo encouraged him to 'play confidently,' in the bottom of the fifth inning, Kim Hye-sung targeted the first pitch and hit a solo home run over the left fence, marking his first home run of the exhibition game. He broke through his previous struggles, hitting just .071 (1 hit in 14 at-bats).

Lee Jung-hoo said, "It’s not because of me; Hye-sung has been coming out early and training with a switched hitting form, and he got the result from that. It’s not that I said anything that made this happen."

Kim Hye-sung said about the home run situation, "After walking in my first at-bat, I wanted to swing in my second at-bat, so I attacked aggressively from the first pitch. Honestly, even if it wasn’t a home run, I wanted to feel the solid contact, and I felt good to have properly made solid contact after a long time."

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