On March 23, 2009 Japan outlasted South Korea to take home its second consecutive World Baseball Classic. After easily defeating Cuba three years earlier, this time it took extra innings to defeat the South Korean squad.
The early star was Seattle Mariner pitcher Hisashi Iwakuma. Iwakuma limited the South Korean bats to only a pair of earned runs on four hits. One of the four hits off Iwakuma was a 5th inning homerun by fellow Major Leaguer, the Cleveland Indians outfielder Shin-Soo Choo. Choo’s blast tied the game after 5-innings at one run apiece.
South Korean hurlers Jung Keun Bong and Hyun Wook Jong would get knocked around by the Japanese hitters. However, they would limit Japan’s 10 hits to only 3 runs over their 7 plus innings of work. Future L.A. Dodger Hyun-Jin Ryu would retire the final two outs in the eighth inning, abruptly ending what could have been a huge inning by the Japanese. …show more content…
South Korea would score on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the inning to pull within one. Changyong Lim would relieve Ryu in the top of the ninth and thwart a leadoff single by Ichiro Suzuki, stranding two Japanese runners to end the inning.
Hard-throwing Japan superstar right hander Yu Darvish would enter the game, trying to close out the gold medal for his team. Darvish would blow a 98mph fastball past the first hitter to record the initial out of the inning. Then walks would begin to haunt the lanky hurler.
The next two South Korean hitters would draw walks, but it appeared Darvish might escape after striking out Choo on four pitches. However, Dae-Ho Lee would sneak a dribbling groundball past the shortstop to score the tying
The early star was Seattle Mariner pitcher Hisashi Iwakuma. Iwakuma limited the South Korean bats to only a pair of earned runs on four hits. One of the four hits off Iwakuma was a 5th inning homerun by fellow Major Leaguer, the Cleveland Indians outfielder Shin-Soo Choo. Choo’s blast tied the game after 5-innings at one run apiece.
South Korean hurlers Jung Keun Bong and Hyun Wook Jong would get knocked around by the Japanese hitters. However, they would limit Japan’s 10 hits to only 3 runs over their 7 plus innings of work. Future L.A. Dodger Hyun-Jin Ryu would retire the final two outs in the eighth inning, abruptly ending what could have been a huge inning by the Japanese. …show more content…
South Korea would score on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the inning to pull within one. Changyong Lim would relieve Ryu in the top of the ninth and thwart a leadoff single by Ichiro Suzuki, stranding two Japanese runners to end the inning.
Hard-throwing Japan superstar right hander Yu Darvish would enter the game, trying to close out the gold medal for his team. Darvish would blow a 98mph fastball past the first hitter to record the initial out of the inning. Then walks would begin to haunt the lanky hurler.
The next two South Korean hitters would draw walks, but it appeared Darvish might escape after striking out Choo on four pitches. However, Dae-Ho Lee would sneak a dribbling groundball past the shortstop to score the tying