South Korea fell 9-5 to Japan at the Tokyo Dome on Wednesday, slipping to a two-game skid in the 2026 Asia Professional Baseball Championship.
The defeat follows a 8-7 comeback loss against Australia on Tuesday, leaving the squad winless through two tournament games. Despite the early losses, South Korea retains a path to the final depending on the outcome of Thursday’s match against Taiwan, STARNEWS reported.
A familiar flaw resurfaced for the national team at the Tokyo Dome, where pitching control issues unraveled late-inning leads. South Korea surrendered 15 walks across its first two tournament fixtures, resulting in 17 total runs allowed to opponents.
That pattern mirrors a previous collapse at the same venue a year prior, when the pitching staff issued 23 walks during a series of international tune-up games. Hanwha Eagles veteran Hyun-Jin Ryu warned about those exact tendencies during national team training ahead of the World Baseball Classic.
“If you lose because you gave up a home run, there is nothing you can say, but I will talk a lot with everyone about not making difficult situations through walks,” Ryu said.
Control troubles struck again on Wednesday when reliever Si-Won Park of the LG Twins took the mound in the bottom of the seventh inning with a 3-1 deficit. Park walked Tomoya Masaki of the SoftBank Hawks before surrendering a two-run home run to Riku Somasa of the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles without recording an out.
An explosive eighth inning briefly revived South Korea’s chances. Kia Tigers infielder Do-Yeong Kim drew a walk, followed by an infield hit from Hyun-Min Ahn of the KT Wiz. Dong-Hee Han drove in a run with a single, and Hui-Jip Kim of the NC Dinos launched a game-tying three-run home run.
The tie dissolved immediately in the bottom of the eighth when reliever Young-Woo Kim hit Shinya Hasegawa with his first pitch. After recording two outs, Kim walked Masaki and issued an intentional pass to load the base for Somasa. Somasa capitalized on a 2-0 count by hitting a decisive three-run homer.
Managerial staff emphasized that tournament play exists to provide high-level developmental experience for emerging professionals rather than strictly counting wins. Still, persistent walks turned competitive outings into lopsided defeats.
South Korea faces Taiwan at 7 p.m. local time on Thursday in its final group-stage game. A victory by four or more runs guarantees a spot in the championship game, while smaller margins depend on the Team Quality Balance formula if teams finish in a three-way tie at 1-2.
