“It must have been tough for Korea to play a double header.”
The South Korean National Youth Baseball Team lost 1-7 to Japan in the first game of the Super Round of the 2023 World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Under-18 Baseball World Cup on Sunday afternoon at Tien Mu Stadium in Taipei, Taiwan.메이저놀이터
South Korea made up the game on Sunday morning after the previous day’s (June 6) final group game against Puerto Rico was suspended due to heavy rain in the third inning. Korea defeated Puerto Rico 8-1 to finish second in the group (4-1) and advance to the Super Round. They then played a double-header against Japan on Sunday afternoon in the first game of the Super Round.
Korea’s mound and defense collapsed against Japan, who had six days of rest. Two errors combined to allow three runs in the first inning. The leadoff batter was hit by a pitch for a strikeout, and an infield single put runners on first and second. The first baseman fielded the ball well. A wild pitch by starter Bae Seung-chan put runners at second and third. He gave up an RBI triple to Chivana and scored the third run on an infield grounder.
The offense never really got going. They managed just one hit through the fourth inning. In the bottom of the fifth, Cho Hyun-min singled and Lee Yul-ye singled to put runners on first and second, but Lee Sang-joon grounded out to short.
In the top of the sixth, Lee Chung-heon led off with a single and Yeo Dong-gun singled to left to put runners on second and third. Park Ji-hwan singled to left to score a run. With runners on first and second, pinch-hitter Kim Tae-hyun grounded out to third.
In the bottom of the sixth, Bae Chan-seung gave up a solo home run to leadoff hitter Shuya Yamada. The score was 1-4. Jeon Mir came in as a relief pitcher and put runners on first and third with a hit, a sacrifice bunt, and a walk. He gave up a double to Chivana to put runners on second and third, and then gave up another run to make it 1-7.
Bae allowed four runs (two earned) on five hits and four walks with seven strikeouts. Jeon Mir gave up three runs on three hits and one walk in one inning.
Japan awaited the results of South Korea and Puerto Rico earlier in the day to see who their first-round opponent would be. According to Japanese media outlet Full Count, Japan head coach Shiro Mabuchi said, “I told the players that it doesn’t matter which team we play. Yesterday, Korea was suspended at 5-1, so we were expecting to play Korea in the first round, so we didn’t panic too much. I think it was more of a struggle for Korea.”
Japan’s starting pitcher Maeda threw four innings, 47 pitches, one hit and no runs. His fastball reached 145 kilometers. “I don’t know what would happen if Maeda didn’t throw like that, it was his typical pitching,” Mabuchi said.
“Yamada’s home run (in the sixth inning) was big. The difference between a two-run game and a three-run game is not the same as the other two innings, so that was a really big one. We got into a good rhythm today where if the top of the order didn’t work, we went to the bottom of the order and the bottom of the order to the top of the order. It was the ideal way to win.”