Having Been Slapped in Face by Taiwan, Korea Vents its Anger on China

The Korean baseball national team, shocked by the come-from-behind defeat against Taiwan, romped over China.

Korea defeated China by a score of 6-1 at the second day of the Asia Baseball League and Athens Olympics Preliminary at Sapporo Dome, Japan on November 6, to finish the day with a record of one win and one loss.

China, who was pummeled yesterday by Japan, 13-1, is regarded as a team one notch below Korea. However, Korea didn’t play extremely well even today.

The start was smooth. In the first inning, Kim Jong-kook (Kia) and Lee Jin-young (SK) got consecutive hits, and with one out, Lee Seung-yup (Samsung) walked to load the bases. Subsequently, Park Jae-hong (Kia) tapped an infield hit to 3rd base, scoring a run. With the bases loaded and two outs, Jin Gab-young (Samsung) walked, and Korea took a 2-0 lead.

The Korean team scored another run to lead 3-0 in the 2nd inning. Korea felt pressure after a triple to right field by China’s Chen Je, which shrunk the lead to 3-1. In the 7th inning, Korea scored three more runs, including a two-run timely hit by Park Jae-hong, to give Korea some breathing room.

Starter pitcher Kim Jin-Eung (Samsung) allowed one run and four hits in 6 1/3 innings pitched. Park Jae-hong leads the hitting with two hits and two RBIs in three at-bats.

Korea has to defeat Japan in the final game on November 7 to finish with a record of two wins and one loss in order to advance to the Athens Olympics. In this league, with four team competing for two spots to the Olympics, the ranking is decided by the order of rule determined during head-to-head competition. The winner is the team which gives up the fewest runs, has the most RBIs, hits the highest batting average, has the highest slugging percentage, and wins the coin flip.

Sang-Soo Kim ssoo@donga.com