Once-solid bullpen collapses for S. Korea in crushing loss to Japan at Premier12

Over South Korea’s first two games at the World Baseball Softball Confederation Premier12 in Taipei, the bullpen proved to be a strength, with five All-Star-caliber closers from the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) surrounded by shutdown relievers.

That same bullpen collapsed at the most inopportune time, though, as South Korea suffered a 6-3 loss to Japan in its latest Group B game on Friday.

The defeat dropped South Korea to 1-2 with two games remaining, leaving the team with an uphill climb to reach the Super Round as one of the top two teams in the group.

South Korea blew leads of 1-0 and then 3-2, with Japan moving ahead for good in the bottom of the fifth inning.

You Young-chan, South Korea’s second pitcher, had relieved starter Choi Seung-yong with two outs in the second, and retired Masayuki Kuwahara to begin the fifth before handing the reins to Kwak Do-gyu. South Korea was nursing a 3-2 lead.

Kwak appeared to be in good shape after striking out Kaito Kozono. But the 20-year-old left-hander walked Ryosuke Tatsumi, with the meat of the Japanese order coming up.

With the right-handed Shota Morishita at the plate, South Korean manager Ryu Joong-il stuck with Kwak instead of bringing in a right-hander. Righty Lee Young-ha had been warming up for a while and appeared ready to go.

However, with two outs in the inning, Ryu might have wanted Kwak to finish the inning there and give a new pitcher a clean slate to start the sixth.

That plan went awry when Kwak walked Morishita on five pitches.

Ryu was then forced to keep Kwak on to face lefty Ryoya Kurihara, and South Korea’s only other southpaw in the bullpen, Choi Ji-min, was not ready at that moment.

The inning took a turn for the worse when Kwak hit Kurihara in the elbow with his ninth pitch of the at-bat, which loaded the bases.

Lee was summoned to put out the fire against the dangerous Shugo Maki, who delivered a lead-flipping, two-run single up the middle.

Lee retired the next batter but the damage had been done.

In such a high leverage situation, with South Korea clinging to a one-run lead, Ryu and his staff would have been wise to get at least another closer warmed up in the bullpen. There is little point in saving a top-notch closer to protect a lead in the late innings when that advantage might disappear in the middle innings with a less-accomplished pitcher on the hill.

And South Korea surrendered a couple more runs in the seventh when one such closer came on, perhaps two innings too late.

With a runner at first, Kia Tigers fireman Jung Hai-young came on to face Morishita, hoping to keep it a one-run game. But the Japanese cleanup had other ideas, as he launched a two-run home run to left-center to give his team a 6-3 lead.

In a 6-3 loss to Chinese Taipei on Wednesday, South Korean relievers combined for six shutout innings after starter Ko Young-pyo allowed six runs in the second inning. Then facing Cuba the next day, the bullpen pieced together five solid innings, holding the opponent to three runs in an 8-4 win.

In contrast to the leaky South Korean bullpen, the Japanese relievers kept their team in the game midway through and then put up zeroes across the final four frames.

Starter Hiroto Takahashi, the 2024 Central League ERA champion for the Chunichi Dragons, allowed seven hits in four innings, including a solo home run to Park Dong-won in the fourth inning. But then Chihiro Sumida, a starter for the Saitama Seibu Lions, followed with three innings of one-run ball and struck out six.

Shoma Fujihara struck out the side in the eighth after Japan had taken a 6-3 lead, before Taisei Ota got the final three outs in a clean ninth inning.

Manager Ryu admitted he had been too slow to give Kwak the hook in the fifth inning, and also gave credit where it was due.

“The Japanese pitchers were excellent today,” Ryu said. “They all have that one pitch they can use to get the punchout at two strikes. I can only envy them. For our own long-term future, we have to develop more starting pitchers.”