Korea seeks revenge over Japan in semifinal showdown
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The Korean team competing in the Premier 12 baseball tournament celebrates its 7-2 victory over Cuba in the quarterfinal game at Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium in Taiwan, Monday. They will face Japan in the semifinals at the Tokyo Dome, Thursday. / Yonhap
Koreans rally past Cubans 7-2 to face Shohei Otani again
By Nam Hyun-woo
South Korea’s thrilling campaign in the inaugural Premier 12 baseball tournament continues and it will face arch-rival Japan again in the semifinal showdown at the Tokyo Dome, Thursday. The host’s ace Shohei Otani, who silenced the Koreans in the tournament opener, is scheduled to hurl another batch of fireballs.
In the quarterfinals game at Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium in Taiwan, Monday, Korea beat Cuba 7-2, boosted by a five-RBI hitting rampage in the second inning and Yang Eui-ji’s runaway solo home run in the eighth. At the same time, Japan’s Kenta Maeda pitched seven shutout innings to lead his side to defeat Puerto Rico 9-3, extending their winning streak in the tournament to six games.
Korea opened the tournament on Nov. 8 against Japan and suffered a 0-5 loss, with Otani striking out 10 batters during six scoreless innings. Since then, the 21-year-old flamethrower responded perfectly with Japan’s wish to make a fresh start before the tournament shifts to Taiwan. His 91 pitches against Korea, which hovered over 160 kilometers per hour, were so overwhelming that the Korean media to described him a “monster.”
Otani led the Nippon Professional Baseball Pacific League with a 2.24 ERA and tied for the most wins at 15. He finished the 2015 season second in strikeouts with 196 and allowed only seven home runs throughout the year. The right-hander’s combination of fastball and 141-kilometer-per-hour splitter was a big blow for the Korean team.
The Korean media coined the term “Otani-phobia,” while Korea’s manager Kim In-sik said “Otani threw hard splitters in a clever pattern, which fooled our players.”
For Korea, overcoming Otani will be the key in paving their way for the final and the players are well aware of that, saying “it will be different this time.”
Kim Hyun-soo, whom Otani picked as the most difficult of the Korean batters in the opener, said: “I felt accustomed to Otani’s pitches from my second at-bat.”
“He throws amazing pitches, but I don’t think they were unhittable,” Kim said.
Hwang Jae-gyun also expressed his expectation about Otani. “I really, really want to hit Otani’s pitches,” he told Yonhap News. Hwang, who is hitting .333 with two home runs and 3 RBIs in six Premier 12 games, appeared in the opener at the top of the ninth, but was struck out swinging with the bases loaded.
Nippon Series MVP Lee Dae-ho, who calibrated his batting with a two-run homer against the Dominican Republic, also pledged revenge, saying “I won’t be fooled twice. Next time I face Otani, I can pay him back in a cool manner.”
During the six games, Korean batters have sharpened their sense, while pitchers recorded the second lowest 2.42 earned-run average among the 12 teams in the tournament.
Korea is 2-1 against Japan in their previous clashes at the Tokyo Dome. In the 2006 World Baseball Classic preliminary game, Korea beat Japan 3-2. Though they suffered a 2-14 loss in the first round pool A qualifiers, but notched up a 1-0 victory in the seeding game.