The snow was cool. A pitcher came out with an overpowering fastball and turned the tide of a frustrating game. It was KT’s Park Young-hyun (20).
Young-hyun Park pitched 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief with three strikeouts against Chinese Taipei in the second game of their baseball Group B match at the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games (AG) at the Shaoxing Baseball and Softball Sports Center in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China, on Tuesday.
South Korea started the game with the same lineup as the day before against Hong Kong: Kim Hye-sung (2B), Choi Ji-hoon (C), Noh Si-hwan (3B), Kang Baek-ho (designated hitter), Moon Bo-kyung (1B), Yoon Dong-hee (R), Park Sung-sung (CF), Kim Hyung-joon (C) and Kim Sung-yoon (LF).
Chinese Taipei countered with Zeng Zhong-zhi (shortstop), Lin Hsuei-wei (left fielder), Lin Li (designated hitter), Lian Ke (right fielder), Wu Nying-ting (first baseman), Li Hao-yu (second baseman), Hsun Hao-wei (center fielder), Lin Hsiu-hao (third baseman), and Lin Zhao-hsing (catcher).
South Korea had no answer for Lin Yumin. In the second inning, Yoon Dong-hee doubled and Park Sung-sung singled to put runners on second and third with no outs. Kim Sung-yoon hit an infield grounder and made a head-first slide to first base, but the first base umpire called him out.
From there, the Korean bats could only manage sporadic hits.
Taiwan, on the other hand, scored two runs off Moon Dong-ju to take a 2-0 lead.
South Korea’s woes continued. With two outs in the bottom of the fifth, Choi Ji-min got Lin Anker to ground out to first base to end the inning. But a single and a walk put runners on first and second, and Shen Hao-wei’s sacrifice bunt was thrown out at third by catcher Kim Hyun-jun. Lin Zhihao grounded out to third.
Then it was Park Young-hyun’s turn. With runners on second and third in the bottom of the sixth, Park struck out Lin Zhao on three pitches to end the threat 토토사이트.
Park took the mound again in the seventh inning. He retired the first two batters, Zheng Zhongjie and Lin Zhiwei, on three pitches. He couldn’t time the Taiwanese batters with his hard-hitting fastball. He got Lin-Li to fly out to center field to end the inning.
KBS commentator Park Chan-ho, who called the game, was also impressed. “His fastball power is amazing. All six of his pitches were fastballs.”
This season, Park has appeared in 67 games and leads the league in holds with 32. He’s seven away from second-place SSG’s Noh Kyung-eun (25). The hold king is the favorite.