World Baseball Classic Semi-Final 1: Venezuela – Korea 2-10
KOR 520 102 000 10 10 1 VEN 001 000 100 2 9 5
Olympic champion Korea has reached the final of the 2009 World Baseball Classic. They will play the winner of tonight’s matchup between Team USA and Japan on Monday. At the Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, the Asian Baseball giant scored five runs in the first and a total of seven in the first two frames en route to an easy 10-2 victory over Venezuela in semi-final one on Saturday. The win never was in danger and Korea now has a chance to get a second big title in seven months.
Korea sent ten batters to the plate in the first inning to decide the outcome early. A RBI single by Hyun-Soo Kim and a RBI groundout by Dae Ho Lee put them up 2-0 with one out in the first period, before Cleveland Indians’ outfielder Shin-Soo Choo capped the rally with a three-run homerun over the fence in centerfield.
Ta Kyun Kim added two more runs in the second with a two-run shot into the left field stands, chasing the disappointing Venezuelan starter Carlos Silva (L 0-1) from the mound. He gave up six hits, seven runs (6 ER) and a walk in 1 1/3 innings. He had allowed just one earned run in eleven World Baseball Classic innings before.
On the other side, Suk-Min Yoon (W 1-0) had not much trouble to stifle the opposing star-studded lineup. He induced seven hits, two runs and a base on balls in 6 1/3 innings. Venezuela only scored on a RBI single by Melvin Mora in the third and a solo homerun by Carlos Guillen in the seventh. Additionally Korea added three more runs to seal the 10-2 win. Tae Kyun Kim went two-for-four with a walk, three runs scored and two RBI. Hyun-Soo Kim was three-for-three with a walk and two runs scored.
Overall Venezuela performed poorly throughout the game, caused by the early deficit. They committed five errors, including a dropped ball on a routine pop up to right fielder Bobby Abreu. Abreu, Guillen and Marco Scutaro each had two hits. Sluggers Miguel Cabrera and Magglio Ordonez went a combined 0-7 with a walk, leaving five men on base. It was a bad ending for a generally nice World Baseball Classic by Venezuela.