(WBC) S. Korean closer Oh Seung-hwan dominant in losing cause

By Yoo Jee-ho

SEOUL, March 6 (Yonhap) -- South Korean closer Oh Seung-hwan was in midseason form against Israel in the opening game of the World Baseball Classic (WBC) on Monday, dominating hitters with signature fastballs and sliders in a losing cause.

Oh, the St. Louis Cardinals closer and the lone big leaguer on the South Korean team, struck out three in 1 1/3 innings of work, but South Korea lost the game 2-1 in 10 innings. Israel, incidentally, scored its go-ahead run in the top of the 10th, right after Oh was relieved by right-hander Lim Chang-yong.

Oh came in with the bases loaded with two outs in the eighth in a 1-1 game. The man so cool under pressure that he's nicknamed the "Stone Buddha," Oh started pumping fastballs right away against Scott Burcham, Israel's No. 9 hitter. Oh even drew oohs and ahhs from the crowd at Gocheok Sky Dome with his warm-up pitches.

Oh touched 150 km/h (93.2 mph) with his fastball in the eighth, and then started mixing in his sliders at 137 km/h to keep hitters off balance.

In the ninth, Oh gave up a leadoff single to Sam Fuld but sat down the next three batters in order, two of them on swinging strikeouts.

Oh only needed 20 pitches to retire his four batters.

Oh's work all came for naught, as Israel's No. 9 hitter, Scott Burcham, drove in the winning run with an infield single off Lim.

Lim, former Chicago Cubs reliever, issued a one-out walk and then a single, putting the men at the corners. He got a break when Tyler Krieger failed to put down a squeeze and popped out to the pitcher, but couldn't get past Burcham.

Oh's strong outing was in stark contrast to the overall performance by the rest of the staff. Starter Chang Won-jun walked three in four innings, all of them coming in the second inning when he walked in Israel's first run. Sim Chang-min and Cha Woo-chan, the two pitchers that followed, also had trouble finding the zone with consistency.

Oh could have stayed in the game a little longer to try to keep the game tied and give the struggling offense one last chance to score. Manager Kim In-sik said, however, he couldn't have asked more from the right-hander.

"We needed him to get us out of trouble, and we did just that," Kim said. "We lost the game because we couldn't score after that."

jeeho@yna.co.kr
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