S. Korea loses to Japan 3-5 in WBC final

LOS ANGELES, March 23 (Yonhap) -- South Korea lost 3-5 to reigning champion Japan
in the World Baseball Classic (WBC) final here on Monday despite a dramatic
comeback that forced an extra inning.
It was the two teams' fifth face-off during the 2009 WBC. They were even at 2-2
until Monday's final, but Japan took the final victory.
Team Korea gave up five runs on 15 hits to Japanese batters at the championship
match and earned three runs on five hits, including a homer by Choo Shin-soo of
the Cleveland Indians.
Trailing behind 2-3 until the bottom of the ninth, South Korea's infielder Lee
Bum-ho hit a one-run single to the left field off reliever Yu Darvish and tied
the score 3-3.
Japan's Ichiro Suzuki of the Seattle Mariners slammed a two-run double at top of
the tenth with two runners on base, clinching the victory for his team.
brk@yna.co.kr
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