OSAKA, South Korea defeated the Hanshin Tigers 7-4 on Tuesday in its final exhibition game before the World Baseball Classic (WBC), with backups providing surprising offensive production in late innings.
Eight South Korean pitchers saw action at Kyocera Dome Osaka, while reserves Kim Hye-seong and Park Kun-woo supplied the only extra-base hits for the visiting team.
South Korean starter Park Se-woong tossed two perfect innings out of the gate, but then the second pitcher, Koo Chang-mo, surrendered two runs while struggling to find the zone.
The left-hander walked the first two batters of the third inning. After a sacrifice bunt moved the runners to second and third, Koo gave up a two-run single to Ryuhei Obata.
Koo was pulled following a double by the next batter, Shota Morishita.
South Korea scored a run to get within a run in the top fourth.
Kim Ha-seong and Lee Jung-hoo each singled to open the inning. A fielder's choice groundout put runners at the corners for Park Byung-ho, whose hard grounder down the third base line cashed in Lee.
South Korea went ahead for good in the fifth inning with three runs off the new pitcher, Akira Niho.
They greeted the right-hander with three straight singles, the third being a game-tying hit by Kang Baek-ho. A walk to Tommy Edman loaded the bases for Kim Ha-seong, whose 6-4-3 double play ball cashed in another run for a 3-2 Korean lead.
A wild pitch by Niho put South Korea up 4-2. South Korea then tacked on three more runs in the top eighth, with backups delivering some big hits.
First, it was utility infielder Kim Hye-seong with a solo home run. Two batters later, backup outfielder Park Kun-woo smacked a double to right-center to make it a 6-2 game.
Park Hae-min's infield single brought in another run for South Korea.
A homer and a double play ball allowed the Tigers to close the gap to 7-4 in the eighth, but South Korea hung on for the three-run victory.
The South Korean team was to board a high-speed train to Tokyo later Tuesday. It will have an official workout at Tokyo Dome on Wednesday morning, followed by its first Pool B game against Australia at noon Thursday.
Then it will be Japan on Friday, the Czech Republic on Sunday and China on Monday, all games at Tokyo Dome.
The two best teams after round-robin action will qualify for the quarterfinals, up against teams from Pool A -- made up of Chinese Taipei, Cuba, Italy, Panama and the Netherlands.
The semifinals and the final will be at LoanDepot Park, home of the Miami Marlins.
Source: Yonhap News Agency