South Korea blows a four-run comeback and loses 9-5 to Japan at the APBC

South Korea came back from four runs down, tied the game in the eighth inning and still lost. Japan won 9-5 at Tokyo Dome on Friday, and Korea has now dropped its first two games at the Asia Professional Baseball Championship (APBC).

What happened?

Han Dong-hui put Korea ahead 1-0 with a solo homer in the third inning. Japan answered right away: Tomoya Masaki hit a two-run shot off starter Kim Jin-uk in the bottom of the inning.

Japan added a solo homer from Taiga Kojima in the sixth and a two-run homer from Rui Muneyama in the seventh. That made it 5-1.

Then Korea fought back. Han drove in a run with a single off the right field wall in the eighth, and Kim Whee-jip smashed a three-run homer to tie it at 5-5.

Why did it slip away?

In the bottom of the eighth, Korean reliever Kim Young-woo hit a batter, then got two outs. With first base open, he intentionally walked Masaki, who had already homered.

That put Muneyama at the plate. He had homered the inning before, and he sent a three-run shot to right-center. Koki Yamaguchi added a double and another run, and Korea had no answer in the ninth.

Korea gave up four home runs in total. Its manager is Choi Won-ho, and the team is made up of Korea Baseball Organization (KBO, the country's pro league) players. It opened the tournament on Thursday with an 8-7 loss to Australia.

What's next?

The APBC is for players aged 24 or younger, or with no more than three years of pro experience. Each team may add up to three players aged 24 to 29.

Korea faces Taiwan at 7 p.m. Saturday, while Japan plays Australia at noon. To reach the final, Korea needs to beat Taiwan and Japan needs to beat Australia. Then Korea, Taiwan and Australia would all be 1-2 and a tiebreaker would decide who meets Japan.

The bottom two teams play for third place at 11 a.m. Sunday, and the final is at 7 p.m. Sunday. Korea lost to Japan in the final of both earlier editions, including 4-3 in 2023.