Korea trigger five-inning mercy rule in 17-0 win over Thailand

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Korea trigger five-inning mercy rule in 17-0 win over Thailand

Published: 03 Oct. 2023, 14:39 Updated: 03 Oct. 2023, 22:20

JIM BULLEY
jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr

Korea's Yoon Dong-hee hits a solo home run at the bottom of the second inning of a Hangzhou Asian Games group stage baseball game against Thailand in Hangzhou, China on Tuesday. [YONHAP]

Korea beat Thailand 17-0 on Tuesday, triggering the five-inning mercy rule for an early finish in their final Pool B game at the Hangzhou Asian Games.

Korea got off to a fast start in Hangzhou, China, scoring two runs at the bottom of the first for an early 2-0 lead. Four more runs came in the second, including back-to-back homers from Yoon Dong-hee and Choi Ji-hoon, with a single run in the third to go up 7-0 at the end of three innings.

The runs really piled up at the bottom of the fourth, when 10 different runners crossed the plate for Korea.

That offensive onslaught put Korea up 17-0 by the end of the fourth. With the Asian Games mercy rule ending a game early if one team leads by 15 runs in five innings or 10 runs in seven innings, Thailand had to score at least three runs at the top of the fifth to stay alive. That didn’t happen, ending the game after just over 1.5 hours.

With the win, Korea finish the group stage of the men’s baseball tournament in second place after Chinese Taipei with two wins and one loss. Korea beat Hong Kong 10-0 in their opening game, triggering the seven-inning mercy rule, but lost 4-0 to Chinese Taipei.

The top two teams from each group advance to the super round, with Korea and Chinese Taipei both set to advance from Pool B.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]