The veteran pitcher that the team trusted the most couldn't deliver the goods, and the relievers that followed him failed to put out the fire, as South Korea took a beating from the Dominican Republic in the quarterfinals of the World Baseball Classic (WBC) on Friday.
The Dominicans shut down South Korea 10-0 at loanDepot park in Miami to advance to the semifinals. The game ended on a mercy rule with two outs in the seventh when Austin Wells' three-run home run gave the Dominicans a 10-run lead. A game is called when a team takes a 15-run lead after five innings to a 10-run advantage after seven innings.
The relentless Dominican offense, which came into this game as the WBC leader in batting average, runs and home runs, among other categories, lived up to the hype against helpless Korean pitching.
And the pitchers didn't do themselves any favors, as they constantly fell behind in counts while trying to work the corners instead of challenging those hitters and pitching to contact.
Starter Ryu Hyun-jin pitched a promising first inning for South Korea, striking out the leadoff man Fernando Tatis Jr. and then retiring the next two batters on groundouts. Ryu looked to be his vintage self, the one that manager Ryu Ji-hyun had earlier said he trusted the most.
However, things fell apart in the second inning for the veteran left-hander.
He walked Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to begin that inning. Two batters later, Junior Caminero went down and put a golf swing on a low curveball for a double to deep left field. Guerrero scored all the way from first, as a relay throw by shortstop Kim Ju-won went off line.
Caminero took third base on the play and scored on a groundout by Julio Rodriguez.
With two outs, Ryu issued another walk, this time to No. 8 hitter Agustin Ramirez, and the Dominicans made him pay when Tatis drove him home with a two-out single to take a 3-0 lead.
The hit chased Ryu from the game after 1 2/3 innings.
Noh Kyung-eun came on for damage control, but the right-hander served up the Dominicans' fourth run in the third inning with Guerrero's RBI double.
Juan Soto, who had been on first after a leadoff single, chugged home and beat catcher Park Dong-won's tag with a deft swim move.
New pitcher Park Yeong-hyun then gave up an RBI single to Manny Machado. Gwak Been relieved Park later in the third inning, only to issue three straight walks at two outs to push across two more runs for a 7-0 Dominican lead.
Ko Young-pyo acquitted himself well with a clean fourth inning, while Jo Byeong-hyeon also threw a three-up, three-down fifth inning. Go Woo-suk followed with a perfect sixth, though the score remained 7-0 in the Dominican Republic's favor.
So Hyeong-jun, South Korea's ninth pitcher, continued that good streak by striking out Carlos Santana to begin the seventh, before giving up a single and a walk.
South Korea couldn't quite turn a double play on a grounder by Julio Rodriguez, and Wells put the finishing touch on the rout with his three-run blast. (Yonhap)
