S. Korea Defeats Taiwan 5-0 in Baseball Opener

The South Korean national baseball team has defeated Taiwan, seen as the biggest obstacle to winning its fifth consecutive Asian Games title.

Led by manager Ryu Ji-hyun, the national team shut out Taiwan 5-0 in their Group B opening match of the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games held today at Okazaki Chuo Sogo Park Baseball Stadium in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, propelled by a dazzling pitching performance from starting pitcher Kwak 빈 (Doosan Bears).

With matches against underdogs Hong Kong and Thailand remaining, the national team is expected to advance to the Super Round as the top team in its group.

Kwak, who leads this KBO League season in earned run average (2.26) and strikeouts (186), completely neutralized the Taiwanese lineup with a stellar performance, allowing just two walks and zero hits while striking out 10 batters over 6 innings, backed by a fastball reaching up to 157 km/h.

The stadium scoreboard even clocked a pitch at 164 km/h.

Although Kwak was a member of the gold medal-winning team at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, he was unable to pitch in a single game due to muscle spasms at the time. He completely washed away that lingering burden in a single day.

The trusted batting lineup was tightly locked down by Taiwanese corporate league pitcher Lin Yi-wei (Co-op Bank).

Manager Ryu Ji-hyun fielded a lineup consisting of Kim Do-young (third baseman, KIA Tigers), Moon Hyun-bin (left fielder), No Si-hwan (first baseman, Hanwha Eagles), Moon Bo-kyung (designated hitter, LG Twins), Kim Joo-won (shortstop, NC Dinos), Park Jun-soon (second baseman, Doosan), Cho Hyung-woo (catcher, SSG Landers), Park Jae-hyun (right fielder, KIA), and Kim Ji-chan (center fielder, Samsung Lions).

Right-hander Lin Yi-wei, displaying a fast velocity and precise breaking ball control, effectively held the South Korean bats to one hit, one walk, and one run over 5 innings.

The run allowed was an unearned run resulting from an infielder's error.

South Korea seized an opportunity in the bottom of the 2nd inning when leadoff hitter Moon Bo-kyung reached base on a throwing error by the shortstop.

Kim Joo-won immediately hit a single to right field, advancing Moon to third base.

After Park Jun-soon retired on a pop fly to the second baseman, Cho Hyung-woo drew a walk to set up a golden opportunity with one out and the bases loaded.

Nineteen-year-old Park Jae-hyun pushed an outside fastball from 20-year-old Taiwanese pitcher Lin Yi-wei for a sacrifice fly to left field, driving in his first international career RBI.

The previously stagnant South Korean offense managed to score an insurance run in the 7th inning against Taiwan's second reliever, Liu Chih-jung (unattached).

Just like in the 2nd inning, Moon Bo-kyung drew a walk, followed by a clean single to center field by Kim Joo-won to open up a no-out opportunity with runners on first and third.

Park Jun-soon immediately hit a deep RBI double dropping down the right-field line, and with runners on second and third with no outs, Cho Hyung-woo hit a sacrifice fly to center field, widening the gap to 3-0.

In the 8th, South Korea added another run following Kim Do-young's double into the right-center gap and No Si-hwan's sacrifice fly, and pinch hitter Yoon Dong-hee (Lotte Giants) sealed the victory with a towering solo home run to deep left.

Kim Joo-won swung a hot bat going 3-for-4.

Park Young-hyun (kt wiz), who took the mound in the 9th, allowed two hits to Taiwan after one out, narrowly breaking up the team's combined no-hitter. However, Kwak, Cho Byung-hyun (SSG, 2 innings, 3 strikeouts, no runs), and Park Young-hyun combined for 15 strikeouts to secure a combined shutout, physically overpowering the Taiwanese lineup.

Meanwhile, hundreds of South Korean baseball fans wearing the jersey tops of the 10 KBO League clubs and the South Korean national team flocked to the stadium, chanting the cheer songs of the 10 clubs to create an atmosphere reminiscent of a home game for South Korea.

South Korea will play its second match against Hong Kong at Toyohashi Baseball Field in Aichi Prefecture at 6:30 PM tomorrow.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.