Behind a masterpiece from 19-year-old starter Dongjoo Moon, Korea defeated Chinese Taipei, 2-0, in the final of the Asian Games baseball competition and clinched their fourth consecutive gold medal. Japan defeated China, 4-3, for the bronze medal.
Moon, a rising star with two seasons in the Korean Baseball Organisation (KBO), pitched a three-hit, six-inning gem for the Koreans, and earned the win. He struck out seven opponents with no walks.
For Chinese Taipei, Yu-Min Lin pitched five innings giving up five hits and two runs, while striking out five. Lin, who was the winning pitcher against Korea in the Asiad Opening Round, has plenty of international experience, representing Chinese Taipei in the U-12, U-15, U-18 and U-23 World Cups.
Korea’s two runs were scored in the second inning, on a sacrifice fly from Juwon Kim and a wild pitch.
This is Korea’s sixth gold medal in the history of the Asian Games, winning the last four times in a row. They lost the final in 1994 and 2006. For Chinese Taipei, it was their fourth silver medal. They also have one gold medal from 2006.
For the bronze medal, Japan defeated hosts China, 4-3, with a late-inning comeback. Losing 3-2 in the eighth inning, they scored twice on a RBI-single from pinch-hitter Ryuga Ihara (who represented Japan in the U-23 Baseball World Cup 2022) and a defensive error to take the lead in the scoreboard.
Katsutoshi Satake retired the last six outs of the game and earned a two-inning save for Japan. The loss was charged to Xiang Wang, who pitched 3.1 innings in relief giving up two runs on two hits.
You can see all the stats, results and box scores at WBSC Asia website.
Final Standings
- KOR
- TPE
- JPN
- CHN
- PHI
- HKG
- THA
- LAO
- SGP
