November 20, 2015
Nov 20, 2015 The Japan Times
South Korea manager Kim In-sik said he only had one card left to play. The veteran skipper had been itching to use a pinch hitter, and the top of the ninth inning, with his team down three runs against rival Japan, seemed to be as good of a time as any.
That player, Oh Jae-won, came up with a hit that helped ignite a rally and, in a bitter bit of irony, a man who was cheered by a number of Japanese fans less than a month ago was the one who struck the crushing blow in the end.
Japan Series MVP Lee Dae-ho hit a go-ahead two-run single as South Korea scored four runs in the top of the ninth to rally into the Premier 12 final with a 4-3 victory over Japan in front of a stunned crowd of 40,258 on Thursday night at Tokyo Dome.
“I’m very happy to be able to win,” said Lee (through a translator), who helped slug the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks to the Japan Series title last month. “My teammates had a strong will to win. We were determined to take advantage of this chance and I’m happy we were able to win.”
South Korea moves on to the final and will face the winner of Friday’s semifinal between Mexico and the United States.
The bullpen meltdown spoiled a brilliant outing by Otani, who took a no-hitter into the seventh and struck out 11. He threw 85 pitches and allowed just one hit and hit a batter.
Japan now moves on to the third-place game on Saturday against the loser of Friday’s semifinal.
(Read the full story on The Japan Times)
© Baseball Federation of Asia. All RIGHTS RESERVED. / PRIVACY POLICY
