jasdooit

The South Korean national baseball team, getting ready for next year’s WBC (World Baseball Classic), finished a two-game series against Japan over the weekend at Tokyo Dome with one tie and one loss. They lost 4-11 in the first game on the 15th and tied 7-7 in the second game on the 16th, thanks to Kim Joo-won’s (NC) dramatic solo home run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning. Since 2017, South Korea has had one tie and 10 losses in 11 games against Japan. It’s almost embarrassing to refer to Japan as a ‘rival.’

The games’ content was not something that could be easily rated highly. South Korea, with their strong starting lineup in the early stages of both matches, built a 3-0 advantage but then saw their relief pitchers struggle one after another, allowing opponents to make comebacks and take the lead. The main issue was the pitchers’ lack of control. They issued 11 walks in the first game and an astonishing 12 in the second. Four of the seven runs allowed in the second game came from bases-loaded walks.

Jeong Woo-joo, a rookie professional pitcher from Hanwha, started the second game and kept Japan’s team to four strikeouts without allowing any runs in three innings. During the second inning, although he faced a walk, made a fielding error on a throw to second base, and allowed a sacrifice bunt that put runners on second and third with one out, he managed to escape the situation by catching Sasaki Dai’s line drive at second base and then striking out Ishigami Daiki with a swinging bunt. Given it was his first time pitching at Tokyo Dome and the pressure of a Korea-Japan contest, this was considered a ‘perfect debut.’

As Jeong Woo-joo took the mound, the team scored three runs in the bottom of the third inning. With one out and runners on base, Song Seong-mun (Kiwoom) delivered a two-RBI crucial hit, and later, with one out and runners on first and third after a successful double steal, they added another run to establish a 3-0 advantage.

However, Oh Won-seok (KT) and Jo Byeong-hyun (SSG), who came in during the fourth inning after Jeong, gave up three runs through four walks and two hits, resulting in a 3-3 tie. South Korea scored one run in the bottom of the fourth, but in the fifth inning with the bases full, they allowed a bases-loaded walk and a two-RBI crucial hit, leading to a 4-6 deficit. In the top of the eighth, Bae Chan-seung (Samsung) allowed the seventh run following another bases-loaded walk.

With the game appearing to be lost in the bottom of the ninth inning, down 6-7 with two outs, Kim Joo-won emerged as the hero. At the plate, he didn’t miss Ota Daisei’s mistake that was pulled toward the center and hit it over the center field fence for a game-tying solo home run. The game concluded 7-7 without needing extra innings.

The KBO (Korean Baseball Organization) League has implemented the ABS (Automatic Ball-Strike System) in all stadiums since last year. However, during the WBC main tournament, human umpires, rather than automated systems, made judgments on strikes and balls, and this was also the case in the evaluation series. There have been criticisms that national team pitchers, who are used to the ABS, had difficulty adjusting to a narrower strike zone compared to the domestic league. Nevertheless, considering that Japanese pitchers competing in the same conditions did not face major problems, it is challenging to attribute the 23 bases on balls in two games entirely to the strike zone.

Despite the game being a letdown that highlighted the gap in skill compared to Japan, the efforts of the ‘table setters’ provided some comfort. Second baseman Shin Min-jae (LG), batting first, achieved a team-high four hits across two days, while leadoff hitter right fielder Ahn Hyun-min (KT) demonstrated his power-hitting ability with home runs in both matches. Particularly, Ahn Hyun-min hit a 129-meter leading two-run home run in the top of the fourth inning of the first game and another solo home run to left field in the bottom of the eighth inning of the second game when the team was down 7-5. Each time Ahn Hyun-min hit a home run, Japanese fans inside Tokyo Dome were briefly stunned. Japanese national team manager Ibata Hirokazu was impressed, stating, “When he makes proper contact, his distance is amazing. There aren’t many players in Japan who can hit that far,” and added, “I got the feeling that he’s a Major League-caliber player.”