Korea falls to Japan for 1st loss

Japan's Shohei Ohtani, right, hugs Korea's Kim Hye-seong before the start of a World Baseball Classic game between Japan and Korea in Tokyo, Japan, March 7. AP-Yonhap

TOKYO — Korea blew an early lead and lost to the defending champion Japan 8-6 at the World Baseball Classic (WBC) on Saturday.

Korea scored three times in the top of the first inning at Tokyo Dome but its pitchers couldn't keep the team in front.

Japan smoked four home runs, including two by Seiya Suzuki. Shohei Ohtani also went deep and scored three times.

Korea struck out 15 times against five Japanese pitchers.

Korea, who had started the tournament with an 11-4 win over Czechia on Thursday, will next play Chinese Taipei at noon Sunday. The finale will be against Australia at 7 p.m. Monday.

The top two nations at the conclusion of pool play will qualify for the quarterfinals.

Korea opened the game with three straight singles off starter Yusei Kikuchi, the third being an RBI knock by Lee Jung-hoo.

Then with two outs in the inning, Moon Bo-gyeong lined a double to center to cash in two more runs for a 3-0 lead. Center fielder Seiya Suzuki failed to keep the sinking liner in front of him, allowing both runners aboard to come home easily as the ball rolled toward the warning track.

But Japan punched right back in the bottom first, as Suzuki atoned for his defensive miscue with a two-run home run to right field off starter Ko Young-pyo.

Japan was far from done hitting dingers.

With one out in the bottom third, Shohei Ohtani tied the game with a towering solo homer right-center field.

Two batters later, Suzuki put his team ahead with a solo home run, his second long ball of the night.

Korea's Ko Young-pyo throws a ball during the teams' Pool C game at the World Baseball Classic at Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, March 7. Reuters-Yonhap

The blast knocked Ko out of the game.

Masataka Yoshida then greeted the reliever Jo Byeong-hyeon with a solo home run of his own, as Japan grabbed a 5-3 lead.

The first four Japanese hits were all home runs.

Not to be outdone, Korea tied the game with a home run in the top of the fourth.

With a runner at first, No. 9 hitter Kim Hye-seong crushed a fastball from the new pitcher Hiromi Itoh to knot the score at 5-5.

Things quieted down as the teams traded zeroes over the next two and a half innings, before Japan pulled ahead with three runs in the bottom seventh.

Reliever Kim Young-kyu came on with two outs and runners at the corners, and walked the first two batters he faced to push across the go-ahead run. Yoshida then cashed in two more runs with a single up the middle.

Korea went down swinging.

Kim Ju-won got a run back for Korea with a single off reliever Yuki Matsumoto, who then walked pinch hitter Moon Hyun-bin to load the bases.

Kim Hye-seong stepped in, trying to play the hero once again, but Matsumoto struck him out looking at a 2-2 sinker at the knees.

Korea has not defeated Japan since November 2015 in the semifinals of the World Baseball Softball Confederation Premier12.