Samurai Japan Finish Korea Exhibition Series With A Win, A Tie

World No. 1 Japan and No. 4 Korea squared off at Tokyo Dome over the weekend in a rare exhibition series between the two baseball powerhouses, with both games drawing over 41,000 fans. 

Samurai Japan, the top ranked team in the World Baseball Softball Confederation’s World Baseball Rankings cruised to an 11-4 victory in Game 1 before settling for a 7-7 draw in Game 2. Standout performers included Ryuhei Sotani, Yukinori Kishida, Tai Sasaki, Taiki Ishikami, Woo Joo Jeong, Hyun Min Ahn, Sung Mun Song, and Ju Won Kim. The defending world champions also routed Korea, 13-4, at the 2023 World Baseball Classic, and the East Asian rivals are set to meet again in Pool C of the 2026 WBC in March. 

While both squads were without several marquee stars expected to feature in the WBC, the series still showcased many of the top players from Nippon Professional Baseball and the Korean Baseball Organization, giving managers Hirokazu Ibata and Ji Hyun Ryu a valuable chance to evaluate talent ahead of the main tournament. 

Orix Buffaloes southpaw Ryuhei Sotani took the mound in Game 1 against Doosan Bears right-hander Been Gwak. Though Sotani posted an underwhelming 4.01 ERA in the regular season, his underlying metrics painted a far more encouraging picture. The 24-year-old lived up to those expectations, firing three perfect innings with two strikeouts on 44 pitches. 

Hiroshima Carp reliever Daisuke Moriura took over in the fourth but immediately ran into trouble, coughing up a single and then back-to-back home runs to Hyun Min Ahn and Sung Mun Song, putting Korea up 3-0. Ibata noted after the game that Moriura was dealing with PitchCom issues, a system not yet implemented in NPB, potentially contributing to his poor form. 

But the Samurai quickly responded in the bottom half on an Isami Nomura walk, Yuhei Nakamura double, and Shugo Maki RBI knock to force Gwak out of the game. Then, with two outs, Lotte Marines rookie Misho Nishikawa went the other way for a two-run double, pulling Japan even. 

Korea’s pitching collapsed in the fifth as Japan erupted for six runs. Yomiuri Giants star Yukinori Kishida, a leading candidate to be the starting catcher in the upcoming WBC, set the tone, coming off the bench and delivering a pinch-hit three-run homer off Ho Sung Lee to put Japan in front. 

Seishiro Sakamoto and Tai Sasaki followed with timely hits later in the frame to stretch the lead to 9-3, and Japan went on to win, 11-4. Yuki Matsumoto, Koki Kitayama, Shoma Fujihira, and Kaima Taira combined for four innings with no earned runs out of the bullpen. 

In Game 2, 19-year-old Woo Joo Jeong was a bright spot for Korea, firing three hitless innings with four strikeouts on 53 pitches to keep Japan’s bats quiet early. Korea then jumped out to a 3-0 lead as Song drove in two with a bases-loaded single off Yumeto Kanemaru, and a successful double steal brought home another run. Kanemaru, the Chunichi Dragons’ 2024 first-round pick and one of the top left-handed pitching prospects in recent history, finished his start with four strikeouts and three runs across three innings. 

But Japan answered immediately for the second night in a row, tying the game on a Sasaki RBI single, a Taiki Ishikami bases-loaded walk, and a Ryota Isobata RBI walk. Korea pulled back in front in the bottom of the fourth, but Japan responded yet again in the fifth as Korean pitchers continued to struggle with command. Sasaki drew a bases-loaded walk to force in the tying run, and Ishikami followed by lining a two-run single into right to put Japan ahead 6-4. 

In the seventh, Hiroto Takahashi dealt with some control issues of his own, walking two and hitting another before yielding a sacrifice fly that trimmed Korea’s deficit to one. Hae Min Park followed with a two-out single up the middle, but Isobata came up firing and threw out the tying run at the plate. 

Japan briefly regained that cushion in the eighth on yet another bases-loaded walk, this time courtesy of Shota Morishita, but young slugger Ahn answered with his second homer of the series, taking Takahashi deep to make it 7-6. 

In the ninth, closer Taisei retired the first two batters on three pitches before Ju Won Kim dramatically tied it with a towering drive to right. After 3 hours and 34 minutes, the game ended in a 7-7 draw. 

Korea out-hit Japan, nine to six, but Korean pitchers issued 12 walks. MLB-bound slugger Kazuma Okamoto flew out to center and took a pinch-hit walk in his only two plate appearances of the series.