S. Korea loses 4-2 to L.A. Dodgers in friendly

(ATTN: UPDATES with result of Pool B final match in bottom para)
PHOENIX, Arizona, March 12 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's World Baseball Classic squad
fell 4-2 to the Major League Los Angeles Dodgers at an exhibition game on
Thursday, disappointing fans hoping for a repeat of the team's performance at the
2006 WBC.
South Korea took a 2-1 lead in the top of the fifth in the friendly match at
Glendale, Arizona, with an infield hit by outfielder Lee Jin-young, who knocked
in a grand slam against Taiwan during the first round of the tournament in Tokyo.
The Dodgers tied the score in the seventh, and Taiwanese infielder Hu Chin-lung
drove in two more runners off Korea's closer Lim Chang-young with the bases
loaded in the bottom of the eighth, outdoing Korea 4-2.
The disappointing finish followed a 10-4 loss to the San Diego Padres on Wednesday.
Manager Kim In-sik said a day before the match that his players were struggling
with jet lag after a 10-hour flight from Tokyo to Phoenix early this week.
The South Korean squad, which took gold at last year's Beijing Olympics, advanced
to the eight-nation second round of the WBC as the winner of Pool A by beating
arch rival Japan 1-0 in their final match.
The squad will move to San Diego on Saturday and take on the Pool B runner-up
Mexico on Sunday. Cuba took the top seed in Pool B by defeating Mexico 16-4 in
Thursday's final match.
brk@yna.co.kr
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