Korea defend title as Asian Games baseball champions

Korea beat Chinese Taipei 2-0 in the final of the Hangzhou Asian Games baseball tournament on Saturday, defending their title for a fifth consecutive Asiad.

The Korean baseball team celebrate after beating Chinese Taipei 2-0 in the final of the Asian Games baseball tournament in Hangzhou, China on Saturday. [NEWS1]

Korea beat Chinese Taipei 2-0 in the final of the Hangzhou Asian Games baseball tournament on Saturday, defending their title for a fifth consecutive Asiad.

It was a low-scoring affair at the Baseball Stadium in Hangzhou, China, with Korea’s two runs in the second inning — a double followed by a groundout and a sac fly, and a single paired with a double and a wild pitch — providing the only action.

With the exception of those two plays, it was a classic pitchers’ duel. Korea’s 19-year-old ace Moon Dong-ju gave up just three hits in his six innings of work, striking out seven in the process. Chinese Taipei’s Lin Yi-Min pitched a full five innings, giving up the two runs but proving fairly solid outside of the one difficult inning.

Korea almost snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in the ninth, when closer Go Woo-suk gave up a couple of singles, but the LG Twins pitcher hunkered down to finish the inning on his own with a tidy double play to claim the title.

Korea arrived in the final as defending champions but with a challenge ahead of them — Chinese Taipei were the only team to beat them in the tournament so far: 4-0 on Oct. 2.

Aside from that one loss, Korea cruised through the group stage beating Hong Kong 10-0 and 17-0, going on to triumph 2-0 over Japan in the first game of the super round and then beat China 8-1 on Friday to book a spot in the final.

With the win, Korea have now won six of a possible eight Asian Games titles, finishing second in 1994 and third in 2006, but winning every other time. Four of those victories have been against Chinese Taipei: 4-3 in 2002, 9-3 in 2010, 6-3 in 2014 and 2-0 in 2023.

The victory also means that any players that have not yet completed their mandatory military service will now be exempt from doing so.

Most KBO players complete their military service by playing for the military team, dropping to the second-tier Futures League for up to two years, although opportunities have been more limited since the police team — formerly another option for military service — was disbanded in 2019.

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