Korea blows 8-0 lead, but still win against Taiwan

Taiwan – South Korea 8-9

KOR 710 000 100  9 16 2
TPE 020 042 000  8 12 2

Box score

South Korea survived a big scare on Monday at the Olympics. They scored seven runs in the first inning and led 8-0 midway through the second, but needed a RBI single by Min Ho Kang in the seventh to win 9-8 against Taiwan.

Highlighted by a three-run homerun by Young Min Ko the Korean team scored seven runs on five hits in the first. But Chinese Taipei was not shocked for a long time. They cut the deficit to two runs till the fifth and evened the score a frame later on Cheng-Min Peng’s two-run double. But it was not enough, as Korea regained the lead on Kang’s hit in the seventh.

Taiwan tried to come back for a second time in the bottom of the seventh, when Chih-Sheng Lin reached with a leadoff double and pinch runner Yen-Wen Kuo stole third. However the next three batters went down on strikes and Korea stayed in front. They even had the chance to add a few insurance runs, but left three men on in the eighth.

Jung Keun Bong (KOR) allowed nine hits, six runs (5 ER) and three walks in 4 1/3 innings. Chien-Fu Yang (TPE) was charged with five hits, seven runs (4 ER) and a base on balls in one inning of work. Ki Joo Han (W 1-0) blew the lead in the sixth, but picked up the win anyway. Fu-Te Ni (L 0-2) took the loss.