South Korea’s national baseball team faces Taiwan in a ‘match of destiny’. It’s a must-win. Before the game, the starting lineup was revealed. Moon Dong-ju (20-Hanhwa) will be the starting pitcher.
South Korea will take on Chinese Taipei at 7:30 p.m. (KST) 메이저사이트 on Feb. 2 at the Xiaoxing Baseball and Softball Center Baseball Field 1 in Xiaoxing, Zhejiang Province, China, in the second game of the Baseball Group B at the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games.
A match between South Korea and Hong Kong during the Baseball Group B match at the Hangzhou Asian Games at the Shaoxing Baseball and Softball Sports Center on Monday in Shaoxing, near Hangzhou, South China’s Zhejiang Province. South Korea’s Kim Hye-sung hits a single in the bottom of the fourth inning. Photo | Xiaoxing
The lineup was revealed before the game. Kim Hye-sung (second base) and Choi Ji-hoon (center field) will be the table setters. The center field lineup remains the same: Noh Si-hwan (third base), Kang Baek-ho (designated hitter), and Moon Bo-kyung (first base).
The bottom of the order is also unchanged. Yoon Dong-hee (right fielder), Park Sung-sung (shortstop), Kim Hyung-joon (catcher), and Kim Sung-yoon (left fielder). We had a good 8th inning the day before. They decided it was better not to make any changes.
The starting pitcher is Moon Dong-ju. In 23 games and 118.2 innings pitched in the KBO this season, he has an 8-8 record with a 3.72 ERA. He is the first pitcher in KBO history to officially hit 160 kilometers per hour. Now he takes the mound with the fate of South Korea on his shoulders.
Pitcher Moon Dong-ju of the South Korean baseball team at the Hangzhou Asian Games warms up by playing catch during a training session at Gocheok Sky Dome on Sept. 24. Sept. 24, 2023, Gocheok | Park Jin-up upandup@sportsseoul.coma
With Koo Chang-mo and Lee Yi-ri out with injuries, the roles of Kwak Bin and Moon Dong-joo became crucial. Earlier, coach Ryu Joong-il said, “It’s either Kwak Bin or Moon Dong-joo” when it came to starting against Taiwan.
Luckily, there was no preliminary selection system for this tournament, only “left or right”. It was an unexpected ‘smokescreen’. And finally, Moon Dong-ju is in.
Chinese Taipei’s lineup was Zeng Zhong-zhi (shortstop), Lin Zhiwei (left fielder), Lin Li (designated hitter), Lin An-kou (right fielder), Wu Yi-ting (first baseman), Li Hao-yu (second baseman), Hsin-Hao Wei (center fielder), Lin Hsih-hao (third baseman), and Lin Chia-chung (catcher).
A match between South Korea and Hong Kong during the Baseball Group B match at the Hangzhou Asian Games at the Shaoxing Baseball and Softball Sports Center on Jan. 1 near Hangzhou, South China’s Zhejiang Province. Moon Bo-kyung hits a single with runners on first and second in the first inning. Photo by Xiao Xing
The starting pitcher is, as expected, left-hander Lin Yumin. He is a pitcher in the minors for Arizona in the Major League Baseball. He was promoted from the Rookie League last year to Double-A this year. He’s currently the No. 4 prospect in the Arizona organization. He is the No. 1 pitcher.
South Korea defeated Hong Kong 10-0 cold in game one the day before. It was a cold blowout, but only in the end. It was frustrating until the seventh inning. Only three runs were scored.
The mound was solid, but the bats just weren’t clicking. In the eighth inning, we scored seven runs to go from 3-0 to 10-0, and the game was over.
A match between South Korea and Hong Kong during the baseball group B match at the Hangzhou Asian Games at the Shaoxing Baseball and Softball Sports Center Stadium 1 in Hangzhou, near Hangzhou, east China’s Zhejiang Province, on Jan. 1. Choi Ji-hoon reaches second base after bunting in the bottom of the third inning. Photo | Xiaoxing
It’s time to play Taiwan. There is nothing else but a win. Lose and things could get ugly. If we advance to the Super Round, we’ll take our group stage record with us, which means if we lose to Chinese Taipei, we’ll go into the Super Round with one loss.
Given that South Korea and Chinese Taipei will be playing each other, a loss on this day would mean going into the Super Round with one loss. The road to gold gets tougher
Kang Baek-ho of the South Korean baseball team at the Hangzhou Asian Games delivers a hard hit during the first inning of a practice game against Sangsung at the Gocheok SkyDome on Sept. 26. Sept. 26, 2023, Gocheok | Park Jin-up upandup@sportsseoul.com
At the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang, Korea also lost 1-2 to Chinese Taipei in the group stage. He was blocked by Wu Shengfeng and was unable to capitalize.
We went on to win the gold medal in straight sets, but we were in a bad mood because of the TQB (Team’s Quality Balance) tiebreaker. There’s no reason to repeat that. We have to grab it and go for it.