With a veteran reliever struggling and a rising star enjoying an international breakout, South Korea will go with a closer-by-committee approach for the rest of the Asian Games baseball tournament, manager Ryu Joong-il said Thursday.
Ryu announced the decision after South Korea defeated Japan 2-0 in the first game of the Super Round at Shaoxing Baseball and Softball Sports Centre in Shaoxing, southeast of the main host city, Hangzhou, China.
Park Yeong-hyun, a 19-year-old reliever for the KT Wiz in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO), recorded a six-out save against Japan and finished the game off with a double play ball.
Go Woo-suk, a more established closer in the KBO for the LG Twins, looked shaky in South Korea's opening 4-0 loss to Chinese Taipei, giving up two late runs in his only appearance so far.
"We have two candidates for our closer spot, with Park Yeong-hyun and Go Woo-suk, and I am going to go make my call depending on the situation," Ryu said.
It's a departure from an earlier plan to entrust Go, the reigning KBO save king, with the ninth-inning duty.
That Ryu kept Park in for the ninth inning against Japan to protect a 2-0 lead, instead of summoning Go from the bullpen, was telling.
Park said even he himself had expected Go to take the mound in the ninth inning. Park pitched around an error and a single to close out the shutout win.
"I was nervous because it was a game against Japan, but I wanted to protect our lead no matter what," Park said. "Before I came to Hangzhou, I wasn't feeling all that great. But here, the weather has been great for me and I've been feeling much better."
Park said he can feel the trust that his teammates have in him, and he wants to reward them for their faith.
"The closer's job is to protect the lead when the team has it, and I wanted that job," Park said. "Now that I've pitched here a couple of times, there's really nothing to it. I am pitching the same way I've been pitching in Korea. I've gained confidence in myself because I've been throwing really well."
South Korea made things tighter than they should have been because the lineup was mostly held silent by semi-pro Japanese pitchers. Roh Si-hwan knocked in both South Korean runs with a sacrifice fly and a base hit.
South Korea will reach the gold medal match with a win over China on Friday afternoon, back at Shaoxing. China upset Japan 1-0 in the preliminary round to reach the Super Round as the top seed out of Group A.
"China has improved quite a bit," Ryu said. "They have some good catchers. We'll try to prepare against their pitching. It's a must-win game for us."
Source: Yonhap News Agency