Korea beat Czech Republic 7-3 for crucial first win at WBC

Park Se-woong dominated on the mound to lead Korea to their first win of the 2023 World Baseball Classic on Sunday, beating the Czech Republic 7-3 at Tokyo Dome with two home runs from Kim Ha-seong.

Park Se-woong throws a pitch during a World Baseball Classic Pool B game between Korea and the Czech Republic at Tokyo Dome in Tokyo on Sunday. [YONHAP]

Park Se-woong dominated on the mound to lead Korea to their first win of the 2023 World Baseball Classic on Sunday, beating the Czech Republic 7-3 at Tokyo Dome with two home runs from Kim Ha-seong.

Korea started quickly in the first, with Park Kun-woo, newly appointed as lead-off batter for the game, smacking a double to the right field to get things going. Kim Ha-seong popped out, before Lee Jung-hoo followed up with a bunt pop single, bringing Park Kun-woo home before the fans had even found their seats.

Park Byung-ho and Kang Baek-ho both followed up with singles, allowing Lee to get home and a Yang Eui-ji walk to load the bases. Choi Jeong struck out, but Korea was able to bring home No. 3 when Kim Hyun-soo was walked on to the already-loaded bases.

Tommy Edman, now butting at No. 9 hit a two-RBI single to bring home Kang Baek-ho and Yang Eui-ji, before the order flipped over and Park Kun-woo flew out to end the inning.

Kim Ha-seong made up for being one of the only players to have no involvement in that first inning onslaught in the second, when he smashed a home run over the left field fence to take the score to 6-0.

Things quietened down after the early excitement, with Korean starter Park Se-woong, one of the only pitchers to acquit himself in the painful clash with Japan on Friday, putting in a very strong 4.2 innings of work with just eight strikeouts, no walks and just one hit.

Kim Ha-seong hits a solo home run during a World Baseball Classic Pool B game between Korea and the Czech Republic at Tokyo Dome in Tokyo on Sunday. [YONHAP]

Despite Korea’s obvious dominance, the middle innings still proved to be a problem for the Korean squad, both for the bullpen and on the field. Relievers Kwak Bin, Jeong Cheol-wong, Ko Young-pyo and Kim Won-jung all gave up knocks, with the Czech Republic grinding out two runs in the seventh and one in the eighth.

Complacency may have also been an issue on the field, with a few clumsy fielding mistakes — most noticeably a missed catch in the seventh inning by Kim Hyun-soo that allowed runs to score.

Back at the plate, Kim Ha-seong added his second home run of the game at the bottom of the seventh to push Korea up to 7-2, with the Czech Republic’s run in the eighth taking the final score to 7-3.

Sunday’s win comes as some consolation for Korea, who got off to a disappointingly rough start to the tournament with back-to-back losses on Thursday and Friday.

After dropping the opening game 8-7 to Australia on Thursday — a game Korea needed to win to ensure an easy path to the knockout stage — the team was roughed up on Friday in a big 13-4 loss to hosts and long-time rivals Japan.

With the top two teams advancing to the knockout stage, Korea needs to not only beat China on Monday, but it also needs Australia to lose both of its last two games — against Japan later on Sunday evening as of press time and against the Czech Republic on Monday — and ideally by some margin.

If Australia wins either of those games — and based on recent performance, beating the Czech Republic seems highly likely — they will advance to the knockout stage alongside Japan and Korea will be knocked out of the tournament.

That crucial Australia vs. Czech Republic game begins at midday on Monday at the Tokyo Dome, meaning that Korea’s fate will already be sealed by the time they head onto the same field to face China at 7 p.m.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]