South Korea defeated Japan 3-1 in the baseball final at Toyohashi Municipal Stadium in Aichi Prefecture on Sunday, winning its fifth consecutive Asian Games gold medal.
The victory gave Korea its seventh Asian Games baseball title overall and extended a championship streak that began at Guangzhou 2010 and continued through Incheon 2014, Jakarta-Palembang 2018 and Hangzhou 2022.
It also gave Korea payback for a 5-0 loss to Japan in the Super Round two days earlier, when the Korean lineup was shut out by a Japanese squad made up largely of corporate league players.
Doosan Bears right-hander Gwak Been turned in a strong start in the final, allowing one run on four hits and two walks over 6 1/3 innings while striking out nine.
Gwak had also impressed earlier in the tournament, throwing six scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts against Chinese Taipei in the group stage.
At the plate, Kia Tigers infielder Kim Do-yeong went 2-for-5 and drove in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning.
Japan went back to right-hander Shin Higuchi, who had held Korea scoreless over seven innings in their previous meeting. Pitching on just one day of rest, Higuchi allowed one run on four hits over three innings.
The game began on schedule despite steady rain, and Korea took a 1-0 lead in the second inning.
Yoon Dong-hee of the Lotte Giants opened the inning with a double off the fencing above the right-field wall, and Moon Hyun-bin of the Hanwha Eagles followed with a single to left-center to bring him home.
Korea later loaded the bases with one out but failed to add to the lead, as Park Jun-soon struck out and Kim Do-yeong flied out to left.
Kwak protected the one-run advantage through six innings, repeatedly keeping Japan from building momentum.
He struck out the side in the second and worked around a one-out walk in the third. In the fifth, he gave up a leadoff double to Shohei Mizutani but retired the next three batters to escape without damage.
Japan finally broke through in the seventh.
Ryosuke Aizawa and Mizutani singled to put runners on first and second with one out before Yuki Sato delivered an RBI single to tie the game at 1-1.
Gwak was replaced by SSG Landers reliever Jo Byeong-hyeon, who struck out Masashi Maruyama and Yuki Tsujimoto to end the inning.
Korea answered in the top of the eighth.
Kim Ji-chan led off with a double and advanced to third on Cho Hyung-woo's sacrifice bunt. After Kim Joo-won drew a walk, Kim Do-yeong beat out an infield single to score Kim Ji-chan and put Korea back in front.
LG Twins infielder Moon Bo-gyeong then added an RBI single, scoring pinch runner Jung Jun-jae from second for a 3-1 lead.
KT Wiz closer Park Young-hyun entered with one out and a runner on second in the bottom of the eighth and kept Japan off the board.
He returned for the ninth and allowed a two-out walk and a single before striking out Masato Shibasaki for the final out.
The gold medal also carries military service benefits for 16 players on the Korean roster who had yet to complete their mandatory service, including Kim Do-yeong, Moon Hyun-bin, Lee Jae-hyun, So Hyeong-jun and Kim Young-woo.
yeeun@heraldcorp.com
