Korea rallies to tie Japan in exhibition baseball game

Kim Ju-won of South Korea hits a solo home run against Japan during the teams' exhibition baseball game at Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Sunday. Yonhap

South Korea rallied in the bottom of the ninth inning to tie Japan 7-7 in the countries' exhibition baseball game in Tokyo on Sunday.

With South Korea down to its final out at Tokyo Dome, Kim Ju-won smoked a solo home run off Taisei Ota to even up the score at 7-7.

With no extra innings in play in this rival showdown, Kim Young-woong struck out to end the game.

South Korea lost Saturday's game 11-4, after the bullpen coughed up an early 3-0 lead and issued eight walks over 4 2/3 innings.

Sunday's game followed a similar script, with the South Korean relievers handing out 11 free passes — four of them with the bases loaded.

South Korea capitalized on its first rally of the night in the bottom third. With the bases loaded against starter Yumeto Kanemaru, Song Sung-mun cashed in two runs with a single to right. Ahn Hyun-min, who'd drawn a walk before Song, took third on the play.

With runners at the corners, Song and Ahn pulled off a double steal as Han Dong-hee struck out swinging at the plate. After catcher Yukinori Kishida threw to second, Song pulled up before reaching the bag, allowing Ahn to slide home safely for a 3-0 South Korea lead.

The offensive breakthrough came after the 19-year-old starter Jeong Woo-joo had given South Korea three hitless innings with four strikeouts.

The right-hander survived an adventurous second inning. After walking Shugo Maki to begin the frame, Jeong fielded a comebacker by Misho Nishikawa for what could have been a double play ball. Instead, the pitcher spiked a throw to second to put two runners aboard.

A sacrifice bunt moved Maki and Nishikawa to scoring position, but Jeong retired Tai Sasaki to a line out to second baseman Shin Min-jae before striking out Taiki Ishikami to end that rally.

Jeong then threw a three-up, three-down inning in the third before handing the reins to the bullpen.

And for the second straight game, the bullpen immediately blew the lead.

Kim Ju-won of South Korea, far left, high-fives the team's manager Ryu Ji-hyun after hitting a home run against Japan during the teams' exhibition baseball game at Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Sunday. Yonhap

Left-hander Oh Won-seok gave up a double and a walk against the first two batters he faced in the bottom fourth. After a strikeout, Oh walked another batter to load the bases for Sasaki, who made the pitcher pay by hitting a single up the middle to cut the deficit to 3-1.

Oh then walked Ishikami to push in another run.

Right-hander Jo Byeong-hyeon took over from Oh, but he gave Ryota Isobata a free pass that brought home the tying run.

South Korea regained its lead in the bottom fourth, thanks to Shin Min-jae's two-out RBI single off new pitcher Naoto Nishiguchi.

And once again, South Korean relievers failed to keep the team in front.

Jo walked two batters after getting one out in the fifth before giving the ball to Kim Young-woo, who gave up an infield single to load the bases.

Kim struck out Kishida but then walked Sasaki to bring in the tying run. Ishikami then chopped a single to right to plate two more runs for a 6-4 Japan lead.

South Korea managed just one run in the bottom seventh after loading the bases with one out against Hiroto Takahashi, who walked two batters and hit another.

Pinch hitter Park Dong-won hit a sacrifice fly to make it a 6-5 game. Park Hae-min then followed with a single, but center fielder Isobata threw out Moon Hyun-bin trying to score from second.

Japan, however, pulled further ahead in the top eighth.

Reliever Bae Chan-seung loaded the bases with two walks and a single. Bae then walked Shota Morishita to give Japan a 7-5 lead.

It was South Korea's 11th walk of the game, and fourth with the bases full.

Ahn Hyun-min crushed a solo home run off Hiroto Takahashi in the eighth to bring South Korea back to within a run at 7-6, keeping the hope alive for a comeback.

Ota, who tied for the Central League lead with 46 holds this year, came on in the ninth and retired the first two batters on just three pitches. But then Kim Ju-won destroyed a 1-1 pitch from the right-hander and deposited it into the seats in right-center field to tie the score at 7-7.

South Korea outhit Japan 9-6.