Ryu Joong-il' will try to win the 2024 World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Premier 12 for the first time against the Cuban baseball team.메이저사이트
The Korean national baseball team, led by head coach Ryu Joong-il, will play the second Group B match against Cuba at Taipei Tianmu Stadium in Taiwan at 7 p.m. on the 14th.
Both South Korea and Cuba cannot back down.
Korea lost to Taiwan 3-6 in the first round. Cuba also lost to the Dominican Republic 1-6.
Up to the second place in the group can advance to the Super Round (semi-finals). Korea and Cuba, which both lost their first matches, will be able to advance to the Super Round only when they win the remaining matches.
South Korea will place right-handed pitcher Kwak Bin (Doosan Bears) on the starting mound.
Kwak Bin tied for first in multiple wins with 15 wins (nine losses) in this year's regular season.
He played in two games in the 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC), allowing three runs in two innings and one run in five innings in the 2023 Asian Baseball Championship (APBC).
Kwak Bin's role in preventing long innings with the minimum number of runs has become more important for South Korea, where Ko Young-pyo (KT Wiz) collapsed early in the first game against Taiwan.
The lineup, which had only three scattered hits against Taiwan, should also strengthen.
Korea was 5 wins and 11 losses against Cuba at international competitions where past professional players participated. However, if the scope is narrowed to the past 10 years, Korea is leading Cuba with three wins and one loss.
South Korea and Cuba played two consecutive warm-up matches at Gocheok Dome in Seoul on the 1st and 2nd. South Korea won both games. It won 2-0 on the 1st and also won 13-3 on the 2nd.
However, the Cuban national team was not complete at the time. They had to play at an unfamiliar Gocheok Dome and adjust to the jet lag. Worse, not all of the players in the roster joined the team, which was not 100 percent of their capacity.
Livan Moello (Softbank Hawks), who was unable to join the national team because he played in the Japanese Professional Baseball (NPB) at the time, will take the mound as a starter against Korea.
Left-handed pitcher Moinello has displayed quality performance in the NPB as well. He has been wearing the Softbank uniform since 2017, and ranked No. 1 in ERA in the Pacific League by posting 11 wins, 5 losses and 1.88 ERA during this year's regular season.