YOKOHAMA, Japan-- South Korea walked off on Israel in the bottom of the 10th inning for a 6-5 victory to open its Olympic baseball gold medal defense on Thursday.
Yang Eui-ji got hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the first extra frame at Yokohama Stadium in Yokohama, south of Tokyo, an anti-climactic finish to a slugfest that featured three home runs for each team.
The game had some unexpected early drama, when the Israeli starter Jon Moscot was pulled after throwing only nine pitches with an apparent arm injury. Left-hander Jake Fishman took over.
South Korean starter Won Tae-in, meanwhile, struck out the first four batters he faced, and had five Ks through two frames.
But things changed in a hurry in the top of the third. With a runner on, Ian Kinsler, a four-time major league All-Star, hammered a two-run home run to left field for a 2-0 Israel lead.
Won got the hook after serving up a leadoff single to Blake Gailen in the fourth, as Choi Won-joon was summoned from the bullpen.
Choi quickly made his presence felt by striking out the side to end the fourth. The right-hander pitched a clean fifth, with a pair of groundouts sandwiching a strikeout.
South Korea tied the score in the bottom fourth with one swing of the bat, courtesy of a two-run home run by Oh Ji-hwan off Fishman.
Choi appeared to be in cruise control, but he, too, was hurt by the long ball. This time, it was a two-run homer by Ryan Lavarnway with two outs in the sixth, as Israel went back up 4-2.
In the bottom seventh, though, South Korea gave Israel a taste of its own medicine. Lee Jung-hoo led off the inning with a solo homer off Zack Weiss. Kim Hyun-soo went back-to-back with a solo blast of his own that tied the game at 4-4.
Two batters later, Oh Ji-hwan knocked a double to deep right-center field to drive in the go-ahead run and chase Weiss from the game.
Reliever Cho Sang-woo pitched two shutout innings, but closer Oh Seung-hwan served up a game-tying solo homer to Lavarnway with one out in the top ninth.
South Korea couldn't capitalize after drawing a one-out walk in the bottom of the ninth, and per extra-inning rules, Israel began the top of the 10th with runners at first and second, with Oh still on the mound.
Oh redeemed himself by striking out the side to keep the game tied, and it set the stage for a bizarre finish.
Hwang Jae-gyun laid down the sacrifice bunt against the new pitcher Jeremy Bleich. Oh Ji-hwan hit a fly to shallow left and third baseman Ty Kelly made a game-saving basket catch for the second out.
But the game was decided moments later. Hur Kyoung-min got hit by a pitch to load the bases, and Bleich hit Yang Eui-ji with the very next pitch to let in the winning run.
There are six teams in the baseball tournament, divided into two groups of three.
After round robin play, the first three games in the next phase will see teams that finished in the same position in their respective groups play each other. The top two seeds will face each other, and the No. 2 seeds will do the same, etc.
The loser of the game between the third seeds will fall into the loser bracket, and play will continue in double-elimination format. The two teams left in each of the winner and the loser brackets will square off in the gold medal game on Aug. 7.
Source: Yonhap News Agency