Korea beats Czech Republic to stay alive
Kim Ha-seong of Korea hits a solo home run against the Czech Republic during the bottom of the second inning of the teams' Pool B game at the World Baseball Classic at Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, March 12. Yonhap
Korea defeated the Czech Republic 7-3 at the World Baseball Classic (WBC) in Tokyo on Sunday, staying alive in the competition with its first win after two crushing losses.
A new-look lineup exploded for five runs in the first inning at Tokyo Dome, and starter Park Se-woong threw 4 2/3 shutout innings, as Korea will live to see another day in the tournament.
San Diego Padres shortstop Kim Ha-seong belted two solo home runs, after going 0-for-7 in the two previous games.
Korea will close out Pool B play against China starting at 7 p.m. Monday, back at the dome.
In order to reach the quarterfinals as one of the top two teams in Pool B, Korea must win that game and Australia must lose its next two games ― against Japan on Sunday evening and then the Czech Republic on Monday afternoon.
In this case, Japan will win Pool B at 4-0, and Korea, Australia and the Czech Republic will finish tied at 2-2. They will go to a tiebreaker, using a formula based on runs allowed in games between the tied countries.
Kang Baek-ho of Korea tosses his bat after hitting an RBI single against the Czech Republic during the bottom of the first inning of the teams' Pool B game at the World Baseball Classic at Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, March 12. Yonhap
Korea came out swinging from the first inning, batting around to put up a five-spot against starter Lukas Ercoli on five hits, two walks and an error.
After a double by the new leadoff man Park Kun-woo, Korea strung together three straight singles to cash in two runs.
With two outs, Kim Hyun-soo drew a bases-loaded walk to build a 3-0 lead, and Tommy Edman followed up with an infield single that brought two more across the plate.
Kim Ha-seong's leadoff home run in the second put Korea ahead 6-0.
Kim Ha-seong of Korea, right, celebrates his solo home run against the Czech Republic during the bottom of the second inning of the teams' Pool B game at the World Baseball Classic at Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, March 12. Yonhap
Starter Park struck out five of the first six Czech batters and didn't allow a base runner until Cervenka led off the fifth with a double.
Park struck out the next two batters and reached 59 in his pitch count, six from the limit in the first round. Reliever Gwak Been came on to strike out Willie Escala and keep Korea up by half a dozen.
The Czech Republic opened the seventh with two straight singles off Gwak. Then facing the new pitcher Jeong Cheol-won, Matej Mensik lined a double to left field to bring home both runners for a 6-2 game.
Left fielder Kim Hyun-soo tried to make a diving grab on the sinking liner, but the ball skipped past him and rolled all the way to the warning track.
Mensik moved to third on a wild pitch by Jeong but was stranded there when the fourth Korean pitcher, Ko Young-pyo, struck out Escala to close out the inning.
Kim Ha-seong then gave Korea a bit more breathing room with his second solo home run of the day in the bottom of the seventh.
Korea pitched into some trouble in the eighth. With a runner at first, reliever Kim Won-jung gave up a single and hit a batter to load the bases.
The next pitcher, Lee Yong-chan, threw a wild pitch that let in a run, with Martin Cervenka at the plate.
Lee struck out Cervenka to prevent further damage and struck out the side in the ninth to close out the win. (Yonhap)