Japan claims another WBC with 5-3 win over S.
Korea
2009
BASEBALL SPECIAL COVERAGE – WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
Game
played March 23, 2009
Ichiro
Suzuki went 4-for-6, including the game-winning 10th-inning two-RBI single, as
Japan beat South Korea 5-3 in extras in Los Angeles Monday night for its second
World Baseball Classic title in as many tries.
Japan took the lead for
good in the top half of the 10th inning, sending eight batters to face Korean
reliever Lim Chang-yong. Seiichi Uchikawa
led off with a single to right and moved to second on Atsunori
Inaba’s sacrifice bunt. Akinori
Iwamura then singled to left and took second on
defensive indifference to set the stage for Suzuki, who laced a two-RBI single
to center on the eighth pitch of his at-bat for a 5-3 lead.
Japan reliever Yu Darvish then pitched around a leadoff walk to Kang Min-ho
in the bottom of the frame, striking out Jeong Keun-woo swinging for the final out.
Trailing
3-1, South Korea
scored a run in the eighth inning and another in the ninth to send the game to
extra innings. Lee Bum-ho led off the bottom of the eighth with a double to the
right-field wall off Japan starter Hisashi Iwakuma and came home on pinch hitter Lee Dae-ho’s sacrifice fly to deep center field to make
the score 3-2.
Then,
after working around a Suzuki leadoff double in the top of the ninth, Kim Hyun-soo drew a one-out walk against Darvish.
Lee Jong-wook came on as a pinch runner and
eventually scored from second on a Lee Bum-ho ground-ball single to left to tie
the game at three.
With
the score knotted at one in the top of the seventh inning, Japan broke
free for two runs in two innings to take the lead. Yasuyuki
Kataoka led off the seventh with a single to left
field off Korean reliever Jong Hyun-wook, stole second, and advanced to third on Suzuki’s
bunt single. Kataoka then scored on Hiroyuki Nakajima’s
single to left, taking a 2-1 lead for Japan.
In
the eighth, Uchikawa hit a one-out single to start
things off. After South
Korea went to Ryu
Hyun-jin out of the bullpen, Inaba
hit a ground-rule double down the right-field line, sending Uchikawa
to third. Akinori Iwamura’s
sac fly to left scored Uchikawa for a 3-1 Japanese
edge.
Japan scored its first run
in the top of the third. Nakajima led off with an infield single to short
against Korean starter Jung-Keun Bong, then took second when South Korea second baseman Ko Young-min misplayed Norichika
Aoki’s grounder. Nakajima scored on Michihiro
Ogasawara’s single on the ground through the hole to right for a 1-0
advantage.
South Korea dented the scoreboard
and tied the game in the bottom of the fifth. Shin-Soo
Choo drilled a leadoff home run to left-center for
the equalizer.
For
Japan,
Uchikawa went 3-for-5, while Nakajima and Kataoka each posted two base knocks as part of the team’s
15-hit attack.
Darvish blew the save opportunity but was credited with
the win, working two innings of one-run, one-hit ball, with five strikeouts and
three walks. Iwakuma pitched brilliantly, lasting 7
2-3 innings of two-run, four-hit baseball, not allowing a Korean baserunner until the 12th batter of the night on Kim Hyun-soo’s fourth-inning single. Iwakuma
struck out six and walked two. Toshiya Sugiuchi also
worked out of the bullpen for Japan.
The
Japanese pitching staff limited South
Korea to five hits, as Lee Bum-ho was the
only Korean to muster two hits.
Bong
went four innings, allowing a run on six hits, with three walks and a punchout. Jong pitched 3 1-3
frames, yielding two runs and four hits, with four strikeouts and no walks. Lim
took the loss, giving up two runs on four hits over two innings, with two
strikeouts and two walks.
The
game was the rivals’ fifth meeting of the 2009 WBC, with Japan taking
three of the meetings.
NOTES:
The game was the teams’ seventh contest since August, after South Korea
defeated Japan twice on its way to winning the gold medal at the 2008 Beijing
Olympics … It was also the 16th meeting since the 2000 Sydney Olympics;
each team has won eight contests … Japan finishes the tournament with a
7-2 overall mark, while South Korea dropped to 6-3.
Source:
ESPNRadio.com
