There was no miracle.
Korean baseball had a bitter taste of being eliminated from the group league for the first time in the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Premier 12. On a day off to prepare for the fifth game, the team received the sad news that it was frustrating to advance to the semi-finals of the Super Round.
South Korea has failed to secure tickets for the 2024 WBSC Premier 12 Super League and will return home early.
It was because Japan and Taiwan, which competed against South Korea in the group league, won side by side on the 17th.
First of all, Japan defeated Cuba 7-6 in the fourth Group B match of the 2024 WBSC Premier 12 held at Tianmu Baseball Stadium in Taipei, Taiwan on Sunday. Then, at the Taipei Dome in Taipei, Taiwan won the match against Australia by a landslide, winning 11-3.
As a result, Japan and Taiwan secured first and second places in Group B, respectively, regardless of the final fifth round of the group stage on the 18th.
First of all, Japan will win four consecutive games by beating Cuba and will rank first even if it loses to the Dominican Republic on the 18th. This is because even if Taiwan, which is ranking second with three wins and one loss, beats Cuba on the same day, and Japan and Taiwan win four wins and one loss, Japan is ahead of the winner. Japan beat Taiwan 3-1 on the 16th.
Likewise, Taiwan will lose to Cuba on the 18th, and South Korea will win the final match against Australia at 1 p.m. on the same day at Tianmu Baseball Stadium, so even if South Korea and Taiwan win 3 wins and 2 losses side by side, Taiwan will unconditionally be second in Group B. This is because Taiwan beat South Korea 6-3 in the opening match on the 13th.
Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Australia all have one win and three losses, so even if they win the remaining one game, they cannot reach three wins.
Korean baseball came from behind to beat Japan in the final of the first tournament in 2015. It then finished second in the second tournament in 2019 after competing with Japan.
In this year’s competition, the national team was set up mainly for young players and the Los Angeles Olympics two years later, and the goal was set as the “Fourth Quarterfinals.”
However, he was unable to move to Japan, where the Super Round will be held, and ended his schedule in Taiwan.
Japan struggled unexpectedly against Cuba on the day. As the two teams were tying 6-6 until the top of the eighth inning, Korea could have pinned its hope on Cuba’s victory. If Cuba wins, Korea, Taiwan and Cuba could have finished the group league with three wins and two losses.
Japan was strong in the end. Japan, struggling against Cuba amid strong rain and wind in the second half of the game, barely won the game by scoring a finishing run with Roya Kurihara’s sacrifice fly to the left field in the bottom of the eighth inning with one out and runners on the first and third bases.
Japan seemed to win the match with a score of 5 to 1 on the day, but Cuba scored three runs in the top of the sixth inning to make Korean baseball fans excited. Cuba also did its best because it needs to win against Japan to give it hope to advance to the semifinals.
At the end of the sixth inning, Cuba launched a game-winning move to pitch Livan Moinello, who ranked first in this year’s Japanese professional baseball Pacific League ERA.
However, after facing two outs and one hit in the bottom of the sixth inning, Moello caused a bases-loaded crisis with one out, he gave up a walk to Gurihara and allowed one run.
Cuba did not stay put. Japanese pitcher Tatsuya Shimizu, who caught Alfredo Despaigne’s grounder with runners at the first and second bases with one out, made a huge mistake on the first base. As the ball rolled to the fence outside the foul line, two runners homered side by side to tie the score at 6-6. It was a moment when Cuba and Korea both grabbed each other’s luck.
Japan created a chance with one out and runners on the first and third bases after bullying Moello in the bottom of the eighth inning, and when Gurihara hit a fly ball to left field, pinch runner Ryota Isovata homered.
Japan gave up the bases with one out in the top of the ninth inning when the rain and wind were getting stronger, but Fujihira Shoma struck out Monkada and Andi Cosme in a row to end the over four-hour bloody battle with a victory. 먹튀검증
In the match between Taiwan and Australia, which was held at Taipei Dome 30 minutes later than the Japan-Cuba showdown, Taiwan unilaterally beat the opponent and won.
From South Korea’s point of view, Australia’s chances of beating Taiwan were higher than Cuba’s chances of beating Japan, but in reality, that was not the case.
Taiwan, which scored one run each in the top of the first and second innings, responded with Zeng Eon’s two-run double to the left in the fourth inning when Australia chased Solomon Maguire with a solo shot in the bottom of the third inning.
After that, Taiwan, which scored points one by one to make it 5-1, celebrated its victory by hitting three runs one by one in the eighth and ninth innings.
In the eighth inning, Lin Li hit a three-run home run over the center fence to create an 8-2 lead, giving Taiwan a clear victory. In the ninth inning, Jiri Jiraogungwan hit a three-run homer over the left fence and ran up and down to home.
Australia, which suffered a crushing defeat by Taiwan, will play its final match against South Korea for third place in the group.
