The Korean national baseball team, led by head coach Ryu Joong-il, will play its second game of the Asian Professional Baseball Championship (APBC) 2023 against Japan at 7 p.m. on the 17th at Tokyo Dome in Japan.
APBC is a competition for the growth of promising Asian players, including Korea. Only players under the age of 24 (born after January 1, 1999) or within three years of joining a professional league team (joining after 2021) are allowed to play, and only players born after January 1, 1994 are allowed to play in the three wild cards.
South Korea, which remained in second place after competing with Japan and Taiwan in the APBC 2017, the first and most recent competition, is aiming for two rabbits: generational change and the first APBC victory.
In the match against Australia on the 16th, the first match, Korea won a hard-fought victory after struggling. South Korea, which gave Clayton Campbell a timely RBI single in the top of the first inning, tied the game with Kim Hyung-joon (NC Dinos)' timely RBI single in the bottom of the second inning. In the top of the sixth inning, he dedicated a superior solo arch to leadoff hitter Alex Hall, but he balanced the game with Kim Joo-won (NC)'s timely hit in the bottom of the eighth inning.
South Korea was then able to face a 3-2 victory with Roh Si-hwan (Hanwha Eagles) hitting a walk-off hit in the first and second bases with no outs made according to the game-winning rule in the bottom of the 10th inning.
It was not without much regret, such as the poor batting lineup, but it was a meaningful result in that young players did not give up and avenged their 7-8 defeat at the 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC) earlier this year.
Korea will now face a better-than-expected Japan. Japan also won its first victory against Taiwan on the 16th. He struggled, failing to send a single runner to Taiwanese starter Gurin Luyang (three hits, one home run, two strikeouts, and one run in 6.2 innings), but he won with the solo arch of Morishita Shota (Hanshin Tigers) in the top of the sixth inning. Later, Japan attacked the Taiwanese bullpen in the top of the ninth inning, scoring three points and writing a 4-0 victory.
Japan is by no means an easy opponent. All the players playing in the first professional league have been dispatched, and Taiwan has also been defeated, raising its momentum. It is also a good news for Japan that the game will be held at Tokyo Dome, "the holy site of Japanese baseball."
In particular, Korean pitchers should be wary of Japan's one shot. The Tokyo Dome, which is made of a special glass fiber material, operates a blowing fan to inflate it, which creates an upward airflow inside the dome. In other words, the ball can be higher and extended far.
Japan's starting pitcher will be left-hander Jihiro Sumida (Seibu Lions). Seibu's first pick in last year's draft, he posted 9 wins, 10 losses and 3.44 ERA this season. He is relatively small at 177cm and 81kg, but his strength is that he can use various breaking balls such as fastballs, changeups, splitters, and sliders that are close to 150km. Sumida, who is considered to have stable ball control, is by far South Korea's No. 1 alert.
South Korea will send left-hander Yi Eui-ri to counter this. Lee Eui-ri, who wore a KIA uniform as the first pick in 2021, has 25 wins and 22 losses and a 3.83 ERA in 76 games (380.1 innings) so far this year. He won double-digit wins in both the 2022 season (10-10) and this year (11-7).
In many ways, it is a significant appearance for Lee Eui-ri. First, he had a chance to make up for his slump at the 2023 WBC. At that time, he appeared in relief against Japan and was shaken greatly by three four pitches, one strikeout, and no point in 0.1 innings. South Korea also suffered a 4-13 defeat in the match, facing the humiliation of being eliminated in the first round for three consecutive tournaments following the 2013 and 2017 WBC.
In addition, Lee Eui-ri is poised to shake off the regret of failing to participate in the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games. He was included in the final entry, but was excluded just before the call-up due to finger blisters.
Manager Ryu Joong-il said, "Lee Eui-ri is the best left-handed pitcher in Korea. Japan also has many left-handed hitters. I think Lee Eui-ri will block it well if he can control the ball well. The ball is fast, too. When control is good, the opponent is bad. Tomorrow (17th), I will only observe whether (Lee Eui-ri's) control is good or not from the first inning, he hoped for Lee Eui-ri's good performance.
The disappointing firepower of the batting lineup, which scored only eight hits and three runs against Australia, is a task that must be addressed. Noh Si-hwan (3 hits and 1 RBI in 5 at-bats), Kim Joo-won (2 hits and 1 RBI in 3 at-bats), and Kim Hyung-joon (1 hit and 1 RBI in 4 at-bats) showed their presence, but the bases were too frequent. They created a lot of chances, but their scoring productivity fell.
The head coach is considering changes in the batting lineup to compensate for this. Coach Ryu Joong-il said, "When I play in an international competition, I will face a pitcher I've never seen before. Since they are young players, I think they got the wrong timing to hit. Opponent (Australia) pitchers struggled because the ball was not fast, but it was formed low, he said. "Tomorrow (17th) will have a change in batting order."
The players are also full of confidence. Noh Si-hwan said, "Japanese pitchers have really good control. "I throw freely on the body and outside, and my breaking ball is at a level," he said. "That's why I don't change at all." I will do my best to win one game at a time. Whatever pitcher comes up, I'll do what I'm trying to do. I will try to overcome Japanese pitchers well tomorrow," he vowed to promote.
Infielder Kim Do-young (KIA), who is making his senior national team debut through this tournament, also gave strength to his voice, sa
It is clearly a showdown with Japan, which is one step ahead of Korea in terms of power. However, Korea has been cheering by beating Japan in international competitions several times. Attention is focusing on whether Ryu Joong-il will be able to beat Japan and turn on the green light for his first APBC victory.