Korea’s upcoming pair of exhibition baseball video games towards Japan could not imply something within the grand scheme of issues, however supervisor Ryu Ji-hyun stated Tuesday he nonetheless needs to beat the nation’s sporting rival and snap an extended shedding streak.
The Korea Baseball Group (KBO) scheduled 4 video games for the nationwide staff this month to assist Ryu’s squad put together for subsequent yr’s World Baseball Traditional (WBC). Korea defeated the Czech Republic in back-to-back video games over the weekend — a 3-0 win that featured 17 strikeouts by seven pitchers on Saturday, adopted by an 11-1 rout that noticed the lineup explode for 17 hits, together with 4 doubles and a house run.
Ryu’s staff will journey to Tokyo on Wednesday for 2 video games towards Japan at Tokyo Dome on the weekend. The primary sport will start at 6:30 p.m. Saturday and the following contest will begin at 7 p.m. Sunday.
The video games towards the Czechs have been seen as a chance for KBO stars on the nationwide staff to shake off cobwebs and get their really feel again after the tip of their home league common season or postseason. And earlier than a observe session Tuesday at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, Ryu stated his gamers are totally prepared for a brand new set of problem towards Japan.
“After all, we are going to completely attempt to win any sport towards Japan,” Ryu stated. “In our assembly earlier than observe immediately, I informed the gamers that I believe they’re in nice type and they need to be capable to put up a very good struggle towards Japan. The vibe right here is nice and the gamers are actually fired up.”
Not counting Asian Video games, the place Japan sometimes sends newbie or semi-pro gamers, Korea has misplaced 9 consecutive video games towards Japan in pro-vs.-pro competitions, together with the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and 2023 WBC.
Ryu stated he used the 2 video games towards the Czech Republic to provide his aid pitchers some work — to a degree the place he had a predetermined order for bullpen arms.
Ryu stated he’ll method the 2 Japan video games in another way and added, “We are going to run the bullpen like we might in video games that depend.”
The Japanese nationwide staff might be with out its Main League Baseball stars comparable to Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto of the World Sequence champions Los Angeles Dodgers, simply as Korea has been taking part in with out its personal huge leaguers Lee Jung-hoo, Kim Hye-seong and Kim Ha-seong.
The Samurai Japan will as an alternative be led by stars from the home Nippon Skilled Baseball (NPB), comparable to Yokohama DeNA BayStars infielder Shugo Maki, one in all 5 gamers from the 2023 WBC championship squad on the present staff, and Hanshin Tigers outfielder Shota Morishita, who completed second within the NPB’s Central League this yr with 23 dwelling runs and 89 RBIs.
The pitching workers options the reigning saves leaders from each the Central League and the Pacific League: Shinya Matsuyama of the Chunichi Dragons (46 saves) and Kaima Taira of the Saitama Seibu Lions (31 saves). Lions left-hander Chihiro Sumida set new profession bests with 10 wins and a 2.59 ERA this yr, rating eighth within the Pacific League within the latter class.
“We’ve some pitchers who can dominate hitters with pure stuff they usually all had a variety of success within the KBO,” Ryu stated. “Now they’ll have an opportunity to see if their stuff will play towards Japan.”
As for his hitters, Ryu stated, “They’ve pitchers who can throw even tougher than our pitchers, they usually even have nice command of breaking balls. If we discover ways to assault these pitchers now, it is going to assist us on the WBC subsequent yr.”
Korea, Japan and the Czech Republic are all in Pool C on the WBC, alongside Australia and Chinese language Taipei. Korea did not make it out of the preliminary stage at every of the previous three WBC tournaments.
