"Avenging the Loss to Japan"—Gwak Been's 111-pitch heroics and KIM Do-young's go-ahead hit lead South Korean baseball to a fifth straight Asian Games title [Nagoya Asian Games]

[Financial News] Two days were all South Korea needed to heal the pain of its 0–5 rout. After a fierce battle in the rain, the South Korea national baseball team planted the South Korean flag at the summit in Japan's own backyard.
The South Korea national baseball team, led by manager Ryu Ji-hyun, defeated Japan 3–1 in the baseball final of the 2026 Asian Games at Toyohashi Municipal Baseball Stadium in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, on the 27th to claim the long-awaited gold medal. Beginning with the 2010 Guangzhou Games, South Korea has now won five consecutive Asian Games baseball titles, following victories in Incheon in 2014, Jakarta-Palembang in 2018 and Hangzhou in 2022—a feat never achieved before.
The chief contributor to the victory was starter Gwak Been of Doosan, who threw 111 pitches in the rain. He overpowered Japan's lineup over 61⁄3 innings, allowing four hits and two walks while striking out nine and giving up one run.

South Korea's lineup came out swinging aggressively from the first inning. In the top of the second, leadoff hitter Yoon Dong-hee of Lotte opened the attack with a double that struck the top of the outfield wall, and Moon Hyun-bin of Hanwha followed with an RBI single to left-center. Japan's starter Shin Higuchi, who had handed South Korea an embarrassing 5–0 shutout loss just two days earlier, showed the limits of his demanding schedule after only one day of rest. He allowed four hits and one run in three innings before being pulled early.
With missed opportunities in scoring position leaving the game on a razor's edge at 1–0, Gwak Been finally ran into trouble in the bottom of the seventh after holding the mound alone. He gave up a leadoff single to Aizawa and, after one out, surrendered consecutive hits to Mizutani and Sato to allow the tying run. With runners on first and second and one out, manager Ryu Ji-hyun immediately made a bold move by bringing in Jo Byeong-hyeon of SSG Landers. Jo used his heavy fastball to strike out the next two batters in succession, preserving Gwak Been's 111-pitch effort.

As always, an opportunity followed the crisis. South Korean baseball's international-tournament formula, the 'promised eighth inning,' was on display once again.
A leadoff single to left-center by Kim Ji-chan of Samsung, a sacrifice bunt by Jo Hyeong-woo of SSG Landers and a walk to Kim Ju-won of NC Dinos set up a one-out situation with runners on first and third. Kim Ji-chan was thrown out at home while trying to score on Jung Jun-jae's grounder, seemingly halting the momentum. But KIM Do-young then ripped a lightning-fast infield single toward the third baseman to drive in the valuable go-ahead run.
South Korea built on its momentum when Moon Bo-kyung of LG added an RBI single up the middle to extend the lead to 3–1.


Once South Korea took the lead, its pitching staff left no openings. Park Yeong-hyun of KT came on in the bottom of the eighth with one out and runners on first and third, a moment of grave danger, and roared after striking out Japan's cleanup hitter Aizawa swinging. Park returned to the mound in the bottom of the ninth and allowed consecutive hits with two outs, but he struck out pinch-hitter Shibasaki to put the finishing touch on the game.
Amid a relay of strikeouts from the bullpen—Jo Byeong-hyeon with three and Park Yeong-hyun with three—the Ryu Ji-hyun-led team erased the memory of its thorough defeat by Japan's corporate-league team two days earlier and set off its own celebration on hostile ground.
[email protected] Jeon Sang-il Reporter