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Much-maligned Korean pitchers come through in high-stakes WBC game

Published: 10 Mar. 2026, 09:42

Dane Dunning of Korea celebrates after striking out Rixon Wingrove of Australia during the teams' Pool C game at the World Baseball Classic at Tokyo Dome in Tokyo on March 9. [NEWS1]

With the team's fate hanging in the balance, Korean pitchers rose to the occasion at the World Baseball Classic on Monday, combining for a clutch performance to send the country to the quarterfinals.

Starter Son Ju-young and six relievers held Australia to five hits in a 7-2 victory at Tokyo Dome as Korea grabbed the final berth out of Pool C for the quarterfinals.

To win a complicated tiebreaker and move on to the knockout round, Korea had to defeat Australia by at least five runs while also holding it to two or fewer runs.

Korea's bats did their part by opening up a 5-0 lead by the fifth inning, but they still needed help from the pitching side.

The pitchers, who had given up a tournament-worst eight home runs over the three previous games, had their plans thrown out of whack after just one inning. After giving up a single and a walk in a shaky first inning, Son stopped his warmup for the second inning and called for a trainer.

Moments later, Son walked off the field with what team officials later said was elbow discomfort.

Noh Kyung-eun, the oldest player on the team with his 42nd birthday coming up in two days, gave Korea two valuable, scoreless innings. He ended the second inning by snaring a comebacker by Robbie Perkins and then let out a primal scream on his way back to the dugout.

Noh Kyung-eun of Korea celebrates after completing the bottom of the third inning of a Pool C game against Australia at the World Baseball Classic at Tokyo Dome in Tokyo on March 9. [YONHAP]

While Noh held down the fort, the lineup added two more runs to build a 4-0 lead.

So Hyeong-jun surrendered a solo home run to Robbie Glendinning but nothing else over his two innings of work. Then Park Yeong-hyun executed a deft escape act, erasing a runner he'd allowed on a hit-by-pitch with a double play ball off the bat of Aaron Whitefield in the bottom sixth. Park successfully kept Korea up by 6-1 at that point.

It was now up to Dane Dunning in the seventh to keep things that way, but he walked the first batter he faced before allowing a dribbler of an infield hit to Jarryd Dale.

Glendinning presented a big hurdle, but Dunning got him to bounce into a double play with a 1-1 sinker.

Dunning then struck out Rixon Wingrove on three pitches.

Korea walked the tightrope in the bottom eighth. Kim Taek-yeon issued a leadoff walk and a sacrifice bunt move the runner into scoring position.

Jo Byeong-hyeon of Korea pitches against Australia during the teams' Pool C game at the World Baseball Classic at Tokyo Dome in Tokyo on March 9. [YONHAP]

Travis Bazzana slapped an RBI single that cut Korea's lead to 6-2, meaning Korea would now have to score another run later. But first things first, its pitchers had to stop the bleeding.

Jo Byeong-hyeon came on to take over from Kim, but he walked Curtis Mead to push Bazzana into scoring position. With one out, Australia was a base hit away from ending Korea's dreams.

Jo dug deep and struck out Whitefield with a high fastball and then retired Alex Hall, on a pop fly.

Jo's teammates picked him up by scoring the seventh run in the top ninth to restore a five-run margin. Jo then responded in kind by keeping Australia off the board in the bottom ninth and securing the quarterfinal spot.

Yonhap