Tokyo: South Korea blew an early lead and lost to the defending champion Japan 8-6 at the World Baseball Classic (WBC) on Saturday. South Korea scored three times in the top of the first inning at Tokyo Dome but its pitchers couldn't keep the team in front. Japan smoked four home runs, including two by Seiya Suzuki. Shohei Ohtani also went deep and scored three times. South Korea struck out 15 times against five Japanese pitchers.
According to Yonhap News Agency, South Korea, who had started the tournament with an 11-4 win over Czechia on Thursday, will next play Chinese Taipei at noon Sunday. The finale will be against Australia at 7 p.m. Monday. The top two nations at the conclusion of pool play will qualify for the quarterfinals. South Korea opened the game with three straight singles off starter Yusei Kikuchi, the third being an RBI knock by Lee Jung-hoo. With two outs in the inning, Moon Bo-gyeong lined a double to center to cash in two more runs for a 3-0 lead. Center fielder Seiya Suzuki failed to keep the sinking liner in front of him, allowing both runners aboard to come home easily as the ball rolled toward the warning track.
Japan responded in the bottom first, as Suzuki atoned for his defensive miscue with a two-run home run to right field off starter Ko Young-pyo. With one out in the bottom third, Shohei Ohtani tied the game with a solo homer to right-center field. Two batters later, Suzuki put his team ahead with a solo home run, his second long ball of the night. The blast knocked Ko out of the game. Masataka Yoshida then greeted the reliever Jo Byeong-hyeon with a solo home run, as Japan grabbed a 5-3 lead. The first four Japanese hits were all home runs.
South Korea tied the game with a home run in the top of the fourth. With a runner at first, No. 9 hitter Kim Hye-seong crushed a fastball from new pitcher Hiromi Itoh to knot the score at 5-5. The teams traded zeroes over the next two and a half innings, before Japan pulled ahead with three runs in the bottom seventh. Reliever Kim Young-kyu came on with two outs and runners at the corners and walked the first two batters he faced to push across the go-ahead run. Yoshida then cashed in two more runs with a single up the middle.
Kim Ju-won got a run back for South Korea with a single off reliever Yuki Matsumoto, who then walked pinch hitter Moon Hyun-bin to load the bases. Kim Hye-seong stepped in, trying to play the hero once again, but Matsumoto struck him out looking at a 2-2 sinker at the knees. South Korea has not defeated Japan since November 2015 in the semifinals of the World Baseball Softball Confederation Premier12.