After losing the Taiwan War, we gave back our holidays and were desperate. Korea escaped the ‘cliffhanger’ by beating Japan.
The South Korean baseball team, seeking its fourth consecutive Asian Games title, defeated Japan 2-0 in the first game of the Hangzhou Asian Games Super Round on Friday at the Xiaoxing Baseball Stadium in Zhejiang, China.
The victory keeps South Korea’s hopes of advancing to the final alive if they can defeat China on Saturday.
It was a fierce pitcher’s duel between Park Se-woong and the ‘Sweet Potato’ bats. 스포츠토토 The South Korean pitcher struck out eight in the fifth inning against former Japan Social Baseball League MVP Shuichiro Kyo.
South Korea’s baseball team plays Japan in a super round baseball match at the Hangzhou Asian Games at Xiaoxing Baseball Stadium in Hangzhou, China, on Friday. Japan’s Shuichiro Kao pitches.
He had three hits and two walks, but could not get much going against Gao’s 150-kilometer fastball. Twice she was hit straight by the pitcher, and once she was lucky enough to catch a ball she missed before it hit the ground.
In the bottom of the first, Kim Hye-sung singled, but Choi Ji-hoon was thrown out at the plate. In the second and third innings, Choi struck out four and walked three.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, Choi Ji-hoon and Yoon Dong-hee had back-to-back singles to put runners on first and third with no outs, but a strikeout by Noh Si-hwan and a failed squeeze by Moon Bo-kyung allowed Yoon to score and another straight hit to the pitcher. Kang Baek-ho singled to load the bases in the fifth inning, but Kim Joo-won failed to bunt, and the next two batters were stranded on consecutive groundouts.
Korea’s baseball team plays against Japan in the Super Round of the Hangzhou Asian Games at Xiaoxing Baseball Stadium on Friday in Hangzhou, China. Park Se-woong cheers on his teammates after pitching in the sixth inning. Hangzhou (China) = Song Jung-heon 기자songs@sportschosun.com/2023.10.05/
However, starter Park Se-woong struck out nine batters in a scoreless sixth inning. In the first inning, he got out of a bases-loaded jam with a walk and a strikeout of Moon Bo-kyung.
In the second and third innings, she retired the side in order with two strikeouts. An unexpectedly strong wind interfered with the handling of fly balls, but the Korean bats stayed focused.
In the fourth and fifth innings, they allowed leadoff singles and walks, respectively, but were able to retire the next two batters. The sixth inning ended with a three-out walk. Standing in front of the dugout, praising his teammates for playing good defense and going glove to glove with each batter was the epitome of veteran and moral support.
Korea’s baseball team plays Japan in the super round of the baseball competition at the Hangzhou Asian Games at Xiaoxing Baseball Stadium in Hangzhou, China, on Friday. With runners on first and third in the sixth inning, Noh Si-hwan hit a sacrifice fly. Noh shares a high-five with head coach Ryu Jung-il.
Park Se-woong was replaced by Choi Ji-min after the top of the sixth inning. South Korea scored a valuable run in the bottom of the sixth on a sacrifice fly by Noh Si-hwan.
In the bottom of the sixth, leadoff hitter Kim Hye-sung singled up the middle and stole second, and Choi Ji-hoon followed with a clean sacrifice bunt. Yoon Dong-hee walked to put runners on first and third, and Noh Si-hwan hit a crisp sacrifice fly to left field.
Korea’s baseball team plays against Japan in the Super Round of the Hangzhou Asian Games at Xiaoxing Baseball Stadium in Hangzhou, China, on Friday. Park Young-hyun pitches hard. Hangzhou (China)
In the top of the seventh inning, Kim Joo-won hit a double to left-center field, but it didn’t score a run. However, in the bottom of the eighth, Kim Hye-sung led off with a walk and was followed by Choi Ji-hoon’s sacrifice bunt and Noh Si-hwan’s RBI single.
Coach Ryu Jung-il kept Park Young-hyun, who had pitched the eighth inning, in the ninth, boasting the best stuff of any Korean bullpen in the tournament.
But in the ninth, Japan’s first batter, Kitamura, hit a grounder to shortstop that Kim made an error. Park gave up a hit to the next batter, Sato, leaving runners on first and second with no outs.
Korea’s baseball team plays Japan in the super round of the Hangzhou Asian Games at Xiaoxing Baseball Stadium in Hangzhou, China, on Friday. In the eighth inning, Noh Si-hwan hit a single with two outs. A smiling Noh celebrates.
He induced Maruyama, the fifth batter, to ground out to second base for one more out, and then got Sasagawa to fly out to center field for a 2-0 win.
The win snapped Korea’s international losing streak against Japan. South Korea had lost four consecutive games against Japan, starting with a 2019 Premier12 Super Round loss, followed by the tournament final, the Tokyo Olympics semifinals, and a 4-13 loss in Game 1 of the World Baseball Classic (WBC).