Hot-hitting Korean team defeats error-plagued Team China, 14-0

Bum-ho Lee, in for his defense at third, instead got the scoring going tonight
with a two-run blast in the fourth (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)

Most of us figured to see South Korea in this game, but China's been a pleasant surprise, driven by solid baseball, particularly from Ray Chang, the shortstop in the Pittsburgh Pirates association.

And these two teams have a bit of recent history, as China battled the eventual gold medal winners to a 1-0 loss in Beijing, so there's certainly some potential for upset.

But Korea's also seen most of this team already, and their backs are against the wall after a tough loss to Japan, so it's unlikely that China will sneak up on them or find them too relaxed.

It's win or go home at the WBC, so both teams came ready to do whatever it took to win.

Korea scored a few runs early, but the wheels really fell off for China in error-filled fifth and sixth innings that saw Korea score five in each frame.

China also couldn't touch Korea's great pitching, only managing two hits and no runs. Korea never let up on offense or defense and shut down a Chinese team that looked to make great strides in this year's WBC.

Starting Lineups:

Korea

1. Jong-wook Lee CF
2. Keun-woo Jeong 2B
3. Hyun-soo Kim LF
4. Tae-kyun Kim 1B
5. Jin-young Lee RF
6. Shin-soo Choo DH
7. Bum-ho Lee 3B
8. Kyung-wan Park C
   
9. Ki-hyuk Park SS
10. Suk-min Yoon SP

China

1. Lingfeng Sun CF
2. Fenglian Hou DH
3. Ray Chang SS
4. Fei Feng RF
5. Chao Wang LF
6. Fujia Chu 1B
7. Guangbiao Liu 2B
   
8. Delong Jia 3B
9. Zhenwang Zhang C
10. Guoqiang Sun SP

Just a few changes to both lineups. For Korea, Dae-ho "Big Boy" Lee sat down, in favor of Bum-ho Lee, a poorer hitter but a much better defender at 3B, probably in response to Lee's error in the last game. And China swapped Guangbiao Liu and Fujia Chu in the batting order, but otherwise this is the same lineup we've seen from both teams for the previous WBC games.

The difference, of course, is on the mound. The 22-year-old Yoon pitched very well at the Olympics as one of Korea's best pitchers, while Sun, twelve years older than Yoon, pitched poorly in Beijing. Sun has thrown well in relief at the WBC, but having him on the hill tonight gives Korea a bigger edge.

RECAP:

Top 1st: They call Lingfeng Sun "The Chinese Ichiro," and he tried to act like Ichiro by dropping down a bunt, but Suk-min Yoon was all over it, and threw him out at first. Keun-woo Jeong grounded out to shortstop Ki-hyuk Park, but Ray Chang kept the inning alive by driving a Yoon pitch back up the middle for a clean single. Feng Fei, however, just beat a pitch into the ground, and Yoon fielded it and threw to first to retire the side. China 0, Korea 0.

Bottom 1st: Lingfeng Sun walked to start out the game, then stole second on the first pitch. Jeong tried to lay down a bunt on the second pitch, but it rolled barely foul—Delong Jia fielded it by touching the ball, moving it a fraction foul. The ball was likely foul anyway, by Jia's sleight of hand showed some nice baseball smarts. The play was for naught, however, since Sun's next pitch was wild, and Sun got to third anyway.

Sun then ended up walking Jeong to put runners at the corners with no out, and Hyun-soo Kim took advantage by rapping a sharp single to right, driving in Sun and bringing Jeong to third. China 0, Korea 1.

Tae-kyun Kim grounded out to third, which drove home Jeong and advanced Kim to second as it gave China the first out of the inning. China 0, Korea 2.

Jin-young Lee cracked a rope the other way, but right at Chao Wang for the second out, and Kim had to scamper back to first.

Shin-soo Choo, still looking to break out in the WBC, fouled off Sun's first two pitches before watching Sun drop strike three into the bottom of the zone, ending the inning. China 0, Korea 2.

Top 2nd: Yoon delivered some nice pitches to Chao Wang, who got just enough bat on one of them to pop it up in short right field for second baseman Keun-Woo Jeong, who gloved it easily for the first out. Fujia Chu got into an early 0-2 hole, then worked the count full before Yoon struck him out with a good offspeed pitch. Guangbiao Liu lifted an easy foul pop to the right field line, and Jin-young Lee caught it for the third out. China 0, Korea 2.

Bottom 2nd: Starting for the first time in the WBC, Bum-ho Lee displayed nice patience against Sun, who has had some trouble finding the plate, and worked him for a walk. Kyung-wan Park should have taken a lesson from him, as he swung at some poor pitches and struck out; during the at-bat, Sun balked for the second time in the WBC, moving Lee to second.

Sun began to settle down and show more control, striking out Ki-hyuk Park. Jong-wook Lee flied out to right on the first pitch, ending the inning. China 0, Korea 2.

Top 3rd: Delong Jia roped a line drive into left field, but Hyun-soo Kim had him played perfectly and caught it easily. Kim also made a nice play on the next hitter, Zhengwang Zhang, who tried to split the left-center gap, but Kim gloved that one, too. Lingfeng Sun slapped a ball into short center, but Jong-wook Lee also charged in and also made a nice play for the third out. China 0, Korea 2.

Bottom 3rd: Keun-woo Jeong jumped on Sun's first pitch to lift a lazy fly to right for the inning's first out, and Hyun-soo Kim also didn't wait long before trying to drive a ball. It hung up long enough for Chao Wang to grab for the second out. Ray Chang flashed some major leather on Tae-kyun Kim's smash to the hole, playing a tough hop well before throwing it high to Fujia Chu, who leapt nimbly, then landed and slapped the tag on Kim to put Korea down quickly, 1-2-3. China 0, Korea 2.

Top 4th: Fenglian Hou kept the fast pace of the game going by hitting Yoon's first offering to short for a groundout. Chang also didn't do much, popping up to short. Fei Feng did rap one hard, driving a ball deep into the left-center gap for a two-out double. Chao Wang couldn't take advantage, chopping one to Bum-ho Lee at third for the third out. China 0, Korea 2.

Bottom 4th: Sun started strong by inducing an easy fly to left from Jin-young Lee, then hit Shin-soo Choo in the back, Choo's second time getting plunked in the WBC. Bum-ho Lee made Sun pay by smashing a 2-0 pitch into the left field bleachers. China 0, Korea 4.

But Sun remained in the game, getting a groundout to short from Kyung-wan Park before giving up a two-out single to Ki-hyuk Park. This would turn the lineup over for Korea and lead to a pitching change from China, as manager Terry Collins brought in lefty Bu Tao. Park stole second, then moved to third on a wild 2-0 pitch, before walking Jong-wook Lee.

With two outs and runners on the corners, Keun-woo Jeong grounded to third, ending the inning. China 0, Korea 4.

Top 5th: Suk-min Yoon continued to shine, striking out Fujia Chu on four pitches and getting an easy grounder from Guangbiao Liu. Delong Jia battled Yoon well, seeing seven pitches, but struck out, also, and China submitted meekly and quickly. China 0, Korea 4.

Bottom 5th: A still-hot Hyun-soo Kim hit a fly right at Chao Wang, who misplayed it and allowed it to fall in front of him for a single. Tae-Kyun Kim drew a walk to put two on with no out for Jin-young Lee, whose grounder up the middle was also misplayed by Guangbiao Liu. Hyun-soo Kim scored on the play and Tae-Kyun Kim moved to third. China 0, Korea 5.

Shin-soo Choo finally came through, driving a liner past first base and scoring Hyun-soo Kim. China 0, Korea 6.

With runner still on the corners and nobody out, Terry Collins replaced Tao with Dawei Zhu, who promptly hit Bum-ho Lee to load the bases. Weh then walked Kyung-wan Park, driving in another run. China 0, Korea 7.

Ki-hyuk Park grounded to second, but Liu bobbled the ball, allowing Park to reach and another run to come across. China 0, Korea 8.

Jong-wook Lee hit a deep fly to left for a sacrifice that would push another run across, though the other runners didn't advance, a small detail that would be important on the next play. China 0, Korea 9.

Keun-woo Jeong stroked a liner to short right field, and Kyung-wan Park rounded third, colliding with his third base coach before continuing on home, where he was out by a mile. This would have given Korea the magical ten-run gap that could lead to a mercy kill after the seventh, but it would be denied.

With runners on second and third, it looked at first like Hyun-soo Kim would get walked as Zhu fell behind 3-0, but Kim hit the next pitch to second. Liu played the ball cleanly this time, and threw it to first for the third out. China 0, Korea 9.

Top 6th: Collins would lift Zhengwang Zheng in favor of pinch-hitter Yang Yang, the backup catcher, who promptly struck out. Lingfeng Sun grounded out to Young-min Ko at second base, who entered this inning for Keun-woo Jeong. Fenglian Hou popped up to center, and China is down 1-2-3 once again.

Bottom 6th: Collins brought in Kai Liu to pitch for China and Hao Chen in left for Chao Wang. Tae-kyun Kim collected his first hit of the night for a leadoff single up the middle. Taek-Keun Lee, in as a pinch-hitter for Jin-young Lee, was hit by Liu, then pinch-run for by Yong-kyu Lee.

Dae-ho Lee, pinch-hitting for Shin-soo Choo, had two on with no out and ripped a long, towering fly to deep left, where it hit a few feet below the top of the wall for a double, scoring Kim for the all-important tenth run and advancing the runners to second and third. China 0, Korea 10.

In his at-bat, Bum-ho Lee got just enough wood on the ball to drive it into center, and Yong-kyu Lee scored, but Dae-ho Lee could not advance. China 0, Korea 11.

Min-ho Kang, hitting for Kyung-wan Park, worked the count well, seeing ten pitches before getting a walk. Ki-Hyuk Park didn't wait nearly as long, hitting a sinking liner to center that Sun misplayed, turning it into a two-run triple. China 0, Korea 13.

China would go to the bullpen once again, bringing in Weiliang Li to try and prevent Korea from scoring the two runs that would lead to the invocation of the 15-run mercy rule. But Jong-wook Lee singled on the very first pitch, plating Park. China 0, Korea 14.

Young-min Ko popped out to center field for the second out, bringing up Hyun-soo Kim, who also stroked a nice shot to center, but Sun ran it down and finally retired the side. China 0, Korea 14.

Top 7th: China needed to score four runs in this frame to prolong the game—and perhaps the agony—for them. If there was any way to start it out, it would be with Ray Chang, the team's best hitter, who led off the seventh.

Team Korea no doubt recognized this, bringing in submariner Tae-hyon Chong, who induced a pop fly from Chang for the first out. Fei Feng swung at the first pitch to ground out easily to second.

In-suk Kim, taking no chances, brought in Chang-yong Lim, "Mister Zero," to close things down. True to form, Lim needed only one pitch to Hao Chen, who grounded to short to end the game.

In spite of the problems it had, Team China should be proud of their performance overall, as tonight was the only night where their team looked as young as they really are. As much as they've improved since 2006, other nations should be mindful of how they are likely to improve going forward.

For its part, Korea righted the ship tonight and gave themselves some good momentum and confidence, going into the rematch against Japan tomorrow night. Whether it will be enough to defeat Japan, who have the mixed blessing of an off-day to rest up and cool off, will remain to be seen.

Keep reading the Asian-American Sports Examiner to see what happens!