Kwak Bin of the Doosan Bears delivered an ace performance in the Asian Games final against Japan, throwing 111 pitches in the rain and holding the Japanese lineup to just one run through the seventh inning.
On September 27, at the Toyohashi Municipal Stadium in Aichi, Japan, Kwak started the game and pitched 6⅓ innings, allowing 4 hits, 2 walks, striking out 9 batters, and giving up 1 run.
Following a scoreless 6-inning outing against Taiwan in the group stage on September 21, Kwak effectively contained the Japanese hitters with his powerful pitching.
In the first inning, Kwak allowed a walk and a stolen base to lead-off hitter Tohyo Kumada. However, he managed to escape the inning unscathed by getting Ryosuke Aizawa to ground out to second base with two outs and a runner on second.
Korea took the lead in the second inning with a timely hit from Moon Hyun-bin. With the momentum on his side, Kwak struck out all three batters in the bottom of the second, asserting his dominance.
In the third inning, Kwak issued one walk but added two strikeouts, and in the fourth, he retired all three batters with flyouts. Despite the heavy rain, Kwak's pitching remained steady.
Continuing his strong performance, Kwak allowed his first hit of the tournament, a double to Shohei Mizutani, to start the fifth inning. Facing a runner on second with no outs, Kwak struck out Yuki Sato and then retired Masashi Maruyama and Yuki Tsujimoto on groundouts.
In the sixth inning, he added another strikeout to finish the inning without allowing any runs.
However, in the seventh inning, with Korea leading 1-0, Kwak faced a critical moment. He allowed a hit to lead-off batter Aizawa, and after one out, Mizutani hit another single, putting runners on first and second. Sato then delivered a timely hit, tying the game at 1-1.
After facing 19 batters, Kwak's outing came to an end. Manager Ryu Ji-hyun replaced him with Jo Byeong-hyeon of the SSG Landers.
Jo inherited a one-out, first-and-second situation and struck out Maruyama and Tsujimoto to prevent further scoring.
In total, Kwak finished the tournament with 12⅓ innings pitched, allowing 4 hits and 1 run.
The game is currently ongoing, with Korea leading 3-1. In the top of the eighth inning, Kim Do-young of the KIA Tigers hit a timely single with two outs and runners on first and third, making it 2-1. Shortly after, Moon Bo-kyung of the LG Twins added another timely hit with two outs and runners on first and second, extending the lead to 3-1.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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