The 19-year-old league's top guardian made his debut for the national team was harsh. Still, there was no problem. It is because there are strong seniors in the national team.메이저놀이터

The Korean national baseball team beat Cuba in Group B of the 2024 World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Premier 12 Group B at Tianmu Stadium in Taipei, Taiwan, on the 14th (Korea time). South Korea, which lost the first game against Taiwan 3-6 on the 13th, reported its first win and saw the possibility of advancing to the Super Round.

It was Kim Do-young, the third batter, who led the team to victory. Kim hit multiple home runs including a grand slam, making three hits, five RBIs, and one run scored from four times at bat. Five of the eight points the team made came from him.

Along with Kim Do-young, who is likely to be named the MVP of this year's KBO League regular season, Ryu Joong-il, the coach of the Korean national baseball team, had one more corner to trust. It is a bullpen session in which the best young guns in each team come together. This time, the national team had Jeong Hae-young (KIA Tigers), Park Young-hyun (KT Wiz), and Kim Taek-yeon (Doosan Bears). All three players have secured the team's back door throughout this season by combining strong pitching and stability.

Three players did not take the mound and lost the game, but the bullpen pitcher's good pitching also shone in the game against Taiwan on Wednesday. The team allowed six runs due to starter Ko Young-pyo's loss, but Choi Ji-min, Kwak Do-gyu, and Cho Byung-hyun allowed six scoreless innings to keep the team at bay. The bullpen pitcher's performance continued in the match against Cuba on Sunday. Korea raised So Hyung-joon to two outs in the sixth inning when the team was in a crisis with no outs and runners on the first and second bases in the fifth inning, and Kwak Do-gyu, a lefty, also came out as a one-point player to secure the final count in the sixth inning. In the seventh inning, right-handed Lee Young-ha came out and loaded the bases with no outs, but gave up only one run to complete the mission.

And the bench choice in the eighth inning was Kim Taek-yeon. Manager Ryu Joong-il's plan to use him as a setup man and Park Young-hyun as the finishing touch was seen as a relief pitcher. However, something unexpected happened. Kim Taek-yeon gave up a hit to the first batter Yardier Drake and allowed a two-run home run over the right fence to the subsequent Yoelkis Gilbert. It was not a ball that went into the catcher's lead, but it was a 150km/h fastball that stuck well to his body, and it was caught by Gilbert's swing.

Was he shaken up because it was his debut match for the Korean national team? He also threw a fastball again to the next batter Kim Taek-yeon. In the middle of the pitch against Raphael Vinales, his 149 km/h fastball made sense and flew over the left fence. The back-to-back home run was quite shocking. The gap was reduced to four points.

He did not neglect the rookie players who experienced shocking result in his debut match on the international stage. He had senior closing pitcher who could support him even if he was shaken. The team immediately finished the game and replaced him with Jeong. Unlike Kim Taek-yeon, Jeong who experienced the international stage at the Asian Baseball Championship last year, shut down the inning more calmly.

In the ninth inning, Park Young-hyun came forward. Park Young-hyun bombed the strike zone with fastballs with speeds exceeding 2,500 revolutions per minute, and ended the game by blocking Cuban batters with two strikeouts.

Kim's result was unfortunate, but it was a valuable game for Korea. All bullpen resources were identified over the course of two days. With all bullpen pitchers in check, the Korean team is expected to stage a literally all-out war against Japan on Wednesday. Choi Seung-yong, left-handed, will be the starting pitcher, but rather than entrusting him with long innings, which was not an "inning pitcher" even during the regular season of the KBO League, he will actively utilize the bullpen according to the flow of the game. Ryu Joong-il said, "I will continue to use Kim even after the game against Cuba."