Korea walks off vs. DR, to face Israel

After squandering so many opportunities during Sunday’s game vs. the Dominican Republic, Korea rallied for three runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to win, 4-3, and advance t0 the knockout stage of the Summer Olympics tournament.

Korea entered the final inning just 2-for-16 with runners on base, but the defending gold medalists pieced together four hits off closer Luis Castillo. Following an RBI single by Hae-min Park and an RBI double from Jung-hoo Lee, the comeback effort was capped on the fourth hit of the night from former Baltimore Oriole Hyun Soo Kim. His two-out line drive to deep right flew over the head of a leaping Julio Rodríguez, the Mariners' top-ranked prospect, and brought Lee home with the winning run.

Korea will now play Israel on Monday, while the D.R. will wait for the loser of that contest in an elimination game Tuesday.

The Dominican Republic took a 3-1 lead in the fourth inning, when Juan Francisco demolished a fastball from Eui-lee Lee for a two-run homer that left a visible dent in the scoreboard at Yokohama Stadium.

Korea’s heroics also overshadowed a yeoman’s effort from D.R. starting pitcher Raul Valdes, who allowed one run over 5 1/3 innings while throwing 111 pitches, the most from any pitcher in the tournament thus far.

Former Cardinals closer Seunghwan Oh was credited with the win after he was able to keep the Dominican Republic off the board in the top of the ninth. His errant pickoff throw to first base helped put a runner on third with no outs, but Oh then induced three groundouts that kept Korea’s deficit at two, setting the stage for what was to come.