Korea's national baseball team lost to Taiwan in the group stage of the "2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC)," putting a quarterfinal berth in doubt.
The team lost 5-4 in the 10th-inning tiebreaker to Taiwan in the WBC Group C third game at Tokyo Dome in Japan on the 8th.
It was a back-and-forth battle throughout. Korea gave up the first run on a solo home run off starter Ryu Hyun-jin in the top of the second but tied it in the bottom of the fifth. After yielding another solo shot in the top of the sixth to fall behind, Kim Do-young smashed a go-ahead two-run homer.
Taiwan hit a two-run homer in the top of the eighth, pushing Korea back into trouble. But with two outs and a runner on first in the bottom of the eighth, Kim Do-young ripped a double into the right-center gap, bringing in runner Kim Hye-sung from first to tie the game.
With the game undecided after nine regulation innings, Taiwan scored first in the top of the 10th in the tiebreaker. In the bottom of the 10th, Korea advanced to one out and a runner on third on No. 8 hitter Kim Hyung-jun's bunt, but on No. 9 hitter Kim Hye-sung's grounder, third-base runner Kim Joo-won was thrown out at home. Then No. 1 hitter Kim Do-young's drive was caught by Taiwan's right fielder, and Korea couldn't flip the game.
At 1-2 in the group stage, Korea will play its final group game against Australia at 7 p.m. on the 9th. If Australia beats Japan on the 8th, Korea will be eliminated from the group stage.
If Australia loses to Japan and Korea beats Australia on the 9th, Korea, Taiwan, and Australia will all be tied at 2-2. In that case, among the three teams, the leader in the ratio of runs allowed to outs recorded in their head-to-head games will take second in the group and advance to the quarterfinals.