Korea secures semifinal spot

By Nam Hyun-woo

INCHEON ― The Korean baseball team earned a 10-0 victory over Chinese Taipei in a Group B match, Wednesday.

The matchup between the two strongest teams at the Incheon Asian Games had drawn much attention before the game started but turned out to be lopsided, ended by the “mercy rule” in the 8th inning.

But the seemingly-easy game for the Koreans, who aim to win a consecutive Asiad gold following one in the previous 2010 Guangzhou Games has also raised concerns, as they scored 9 runs in the first two innings but failed to add one more and also end the game much earlier.

South Korea got off to a good start, as they hit seven runs in the first inning including Kang Jung-ho's three-run and Oh Jae-won's two-run homers.

Kang’s 110-meter homer was especially impressive as it showed the Nexen Heroes’ shortstop has fully recovered from a thumb injury, which had him on the disabled list for a month.

In the second inning, Park Byung-ho also launched a solo homer and the hosts added another run with a sacrifice fly.

In first two innings, the Korean batters tormented Chinese Taipei, forcing three pitchers to toss 86 pitches, while the host side's starter Yang Hyeong-jong held its batters scoreless with less than 30 pitches. Yang was replaced by Cha Woo-chan after 4 innings.

However, they went silent for 4 1/3 innings after Chinese Taipei's Chen Kuan Yu took the mound.

The tight battle between bullpen pitchers continued until the 8th inning, when Korea's Lee Jae-won launched a match-ending single, which brought in Kim Hyun-soo from third base.

With Wednesday's victory, Korea secured a spot in the semifinals as Group B leader, although it still has a game against Hong Kong in the last group match on Sept. 25.

If the Koreans lose the game and Chinese Taipei beats Thailand, they tie on a win-loss record, but have advantage because of today's game. The semifinal game is scheduled for Sept. 27 against the runner-up of Group A.