Korea powers past Orix Buffaloes in final exhibition game

Powered by home runs from a trio of sluggers, Korea won its final exhibition game before the World Baseball Classic (WBC) in Japan on Tuesday. Kim Do-yeong homered for the second straight day and Shay Whitcomb launched his first dinger for Korea, before Ahn Hyun-min joined the party with a solo shot to lift Korea past the Orix Buffaloes 8-5 at Kyocera Dome in Osaka. Dane Dunning tossed three shutout innings in his Korea debut, and then five Korean pitchers and two Japanese pitchers took care of the rest. Korea will now travel to Tokyo for an official practice Wednesday at Tokyo Dome and its first Pool C game of the WBC against Czechia at 7 p.m. Thursday at the iconic stadium. Korea will then face Japan at 7 p.m. Saturday, Chinese Taipei at noon Sunday, and Australia at 7 p.m. Monday. The top two teams from the group will advance to the quarterfinals in Miami. Korea failed to make it past the first round at each of the past three editions of the WBC in 2013, 2017 and 2023. After going down in order in the top of the first inning, Korea batted around and put up a six-spot in the second inninWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times