Osaka: South Korea had a tie in its first exhibition game ahead of the World Baseball Classic (WBC) in Japan on Monday. South Korea blew a 2-0 lead and settled for a 3-3 tie against the Hanshin Tigers of the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) at Kyocera Dome in Osaka.
According to Yonhap News Agency, managed by Ryu Ji-hyun, South Korea will face another NPB club, the Orix Buffaloes, at the same Osaka dome at noon Tuesday before traveling to Tokyo for the start of the WBC. South Korea's first Pool C game will be against the Czech Republic at 7 p.m. Thursday at Tokyo Dome.
South Korea scored twice in the top of the first inning against starter Hiroto Saiki, with the batters swinging early in the count. Kim Do-yeong led off with an infield single and Lee Jung-hoo singled up the middle two batters later. Then No. 5 hitter Moon Bo-gyeong singled to center to bring home Kim, before Ahn Hyun-min's double down the left field line made it a 2-0 game for South Korea.
The Tigers went down quietly against starter Gwak Been in the first inning but touched him for three runs in the second inning. The South Korean right hander gave up a walk and a single with one out in the second to put runners at the corners. Nozomu Takatera's sacrifice fly cashed in Hanshin's first run, and Dan Onodera's double to left tied the score, as left fielder Jahmai Jones had the liner go off his glove. Torai Fushimi then knocked in the go-ahead run with a single to center.
Kim Do-yeong smacked a game-tying solo shot off Daiki Hayakawa with one out in the fifth, but neither team scored the rest of the way. Roh Si-hwan, who replaced Kim at third base, turned a defensive gem to keep the game tied in the bottom eighth. With runners at second and third, Roh made a deft backhand grab on a hard grounder by Hayato Nakagawa and gunned down Takahiro Kumagai at home.
South Korea put two men aboard with no out in the top ninth, only to see the next three batters go down in order. In the bottom ninth, reliever Kim Taek-yeon pitched around a couple of walks and ended the game by getting Ryuhei Obata to hit into a double play.
Gwak ended up being the only South Korean pitcher to allow a run, as Noh Kyung-eun, Son Ju-young, Ko Young-pyo, Ryu Hyun-jin, Park Yeong-hyun and Kim Taek-yeon combined for seven shutout frames.