Ohtani leads Japan over South Korea with 13-4 thumping
TOKYO (AP) — Shohei Ohtani doubled and singled for his second straight two-hit game, and Japan overcame a three-run deficit to beat South Korea 13-4 Friday night for its second straight win at the World Baseball Classic.
Ohtani was intentionally walked as Japan scored four runs in the third inning to take a 4-3 lead, doubled and scored in a two-run fifth and hit an RBI single in a five-run sixth. The two-way star is 4-for-7 with two doubles, three RBIs and four walks in Japan’s two games while allowing one hit over four scoreless innings on the mound.
Masataka Yoshida had three hits and five RBIs for Japan.
South Korea fell to 0-2 after taking a three-run lead in the third off Yu Darvish.
Euiji Yang hit a two-run homer and Jung Hoo Lee had an RBI single as South Korea jumped ahead.
Japan rallied in the bottom half on Lars Nootbaar’s run-scoring single and Kensuke Kondoh’s RBI double, which chased loser Kwang Hyun Kim. Ohtani was intentionally walked by Tae-in Won and, one out later, Yoshida’s two-run single put Japan ahead for good at 4-3.
Kensuke Kondoh homered off Won leading off the fifth and Yoshida’s sacrifice fly made it 6-3. Yoshida added an RBI single in the sixth and a bases-loaded walk in the seventh.
Darvish got the win, allowing three runs — two earned — and three hits in three innings. He was playing for Japan for the first time since 2009.
“This might be the last opportunity for me to pitch in my home country,” he said through a translator.
Kunwoo Park had a solo homer for South Korea off Shota Imanaga in the sixth.
South Korea dropped to 0-2 for the second straight WBC following losses to Israel and the Netherlands in 2017.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida threw out the ceremonial first pitch, a sign of improving relations between the Asian neighbors. Kishida was a high school player and is a fan of the Central League’s Hiroshima Toyo Carp. The Kishida bounced his ceremonial pitch, which was scooped up by Japan manager Hideki Kuriyana.