Olympic champions on a high
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Reuters
OluÅŸturulma Tarihi: Mart 07, 2009 00:00
TOKYO - Olympic champion South Korea began its quest to win the World Baseball Classic (WBC) with a crushing 9-0 victory over Taiwan at Tokyo Dome on Friday.
The Koreans exploded for six runs in the first innings, highlighted by a grand-slam home run from Lee Jin-young in a game almost ended on the mercy rule in the seventh.Â
First baseman Kim Tae-kyun began the Pool A rout with a two-run single as last year's Beijing Olympic gold medalist quickly tore into Taiwan's starting pitcher Lee Chen-chang. Lee was promptly yanked but the bleeding only temporarily stopped, Kim Hyun-soo adding a seventh run for Korea in the fifth before Jeong Keun-woo smashed a two-run homer in the sixth.
The Koreans had runners on second and third base in the seventh inning and only a sharp low catch from left fielder Pan Wu-hsiung prevented the game being called early.
South Korea will face Japan on Saturday after the reigning WBC title holder beat China 4-0 in Thursday's curtain raiser for the 16-team tournament. China plays against Taiwan also on Saturday.
First baseman Kim Tae-kyun began the Pool A rout with a two-run single as last year's Beijing Olympic gold medalist quickly tore into Taiwan's starting pitcher Lee Chen-chang. Lee was promptly yanked but the bleeding only temporarily stopped, Kim Hyun-soo adding a seventh run for Korea in the fifth before Jeong Keun-woo smashed a two-run homer in the sixth.
The Koreans had runners on second and third base in the seventh inning and only a sharp low catch from left fielder Pan Wu-hsiung prevented the game being called early.
South Korea will face Japan on Saturday after the reigning WBC title holder beat China 4-0 in Thursday's curtain raiser for the 16-team tournament. China plays against Taiwan also on Saturday.