The South Korean national team led by manager Ryu Ji-hyun lost to Japan. They matched up tightly against the "title favorite." That makes the silence of Korean-American Shea Whitcomb, who showed a hot bat against the Czech Republic, regrettable.
Korea lost 6-8 to Japan in the second game of Pool C round 1 of the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) held at Tokyo Dome in Japan on the 7th. Korea took the first run and continued to chase after falling behind. Although the bullpen collapsed and they eventually lost the game, they also missed several good opportunities.
From the first inning, they rattled Japan's starter Kikuchi Yusei. No. 1 hitter Kim Do-young hit a single, and Korean-American Jeremiah Jones also hit a single to center, leaving no outs with runners on first and third. Lee Jung-hoo hit a single to left field and Korea scored first.
In the following opportunity, Ahn Hyun-min struck out swinging. But the next batter was another Korean-American, Shea Whitcomb, who hit back-to-back home runs in the tournament's opening game against the Czech Republic on the 5th.
However, Whitcomb went down on an infield fly after swinging at Kikuchi's fifth pitch, a slider. They missed a chance to fully rattle Kikuchi from the first inning.
Although Korea scored first, in the bottom of the first, starter Ko Young-pyo gave up a two-run homer to Suzuki Seiya, narrowing the gap to one run.
In the third inning there was a chance to pull away. Jones hit a single. After Lee Jung-hoo popped out to center, Ahn Hyun-min hit a single to make it one out with runners on first and second. With one hit they had at least a chance to score one run.
At the plate was Whitcomb. Whitcomb had drawn a lot of attention even before the tournament. He hit a home run in a game against Nippon Professional Baseball team Orix and hit two homers in Korea's first game against the Czech Republic. MLB.com picked Whitcomb alongside Lee Jung-hoo as hitters to watch on the Korean national team.
But he was silent that day. In the third-inning chance, Whitcomb struck out looking at Kikuchi's fourth pitch, a four-seam fastball clocked at 97.2 mph.
With the score tied 5-5 in the fifth inning and two outs with no runners, he struck out swinging. After falling behind 5-8, Korea had one more chance in the eighth. The first batter, Lee Jung-hoo, hit a double.
Ahn Hyun-min struck out swinging, but it was one out with runners on second. There was still a chance to chase. But Whitcomb was caught on a fly to left field.
After Whitcomb was out, Moon Bo-gyeong drew a walk and Kim Joo-won followed with a hit. The game became one in which Whitcomb's silence was inevitably regrettable. He left three scoring-chance opportunities on the day.
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