Japan repeats as world champion

LOS ANGELES – Seattle Mariners star Ichiro Suzuki hit a two-out, two-run single in the top of the 10th inning as defending champion Japan beat reigning Olympic champion South Korea, 5-3, Monday night to win its second straight World Baseball Classic title.

The Japanese won the inaugural tournament three years ago, beating Cuba, 10-6, in the finals at San Diego.

Before a boisterous crowd of 54,846 at Dodger Stadium, South Korea tied the game at 3-all Monday with two outs in the bottom of the ninth on Lee Bum-ho’s run-scoring single off Japanese closer Yu Darvish (2-1), who got in trouble by issuing one-out walks to Kim Hyun-soo and Kim Tae-kyun, the 3-4 hitters in the lineup.

Darvish struck out Choo Shin-soo before Lee lined a 1-1 pitch into left field, with pinch runner Lee Jong-wook scoring easily from second.

Seiichi Uchikawa opened the 10th with a single, was sacrificed to second and took third on a single by Akinori Iwamura. After pinch hitter Munenori Kawasaki popped out, Iwamura took second on defensive interference.

Suzuki managed to foul off a pitch after it had bounced then lined the eighth pitch of the at-bat from Lim Chang-yong (1-1) to center for his fourth hit. He entered with a .211 average and three RBIs in eight previous games.

Given the lead, Darvish worked around a leadoff walk to retire South Korea in the bottom of the 10th, setting off a wild celebration when he struck out Lee Jin-young to end the four-hour game.

Japan’s Daisuke Matsuzaka won the MVP award for the second straight time after going 3-0 – the same record he had in the inaugural Classic. The Boston Red Sox right-hander had a 2.45 ERA in 14 2-3 innings over three starts.

The game was the latest in an intense rivalry between the Asian powerhouses – a Far East version of a Yankees-Red Sox matchup. They split four previous games in this 16-team tournament, with Japan’s 6-2 triumph in San Diego last Thursday giving it the Pool 1 title in the second round.

Two days earlier, South Korea won, 4-1, and its players planted the nation’s flag on the mound afterward – not the first time that’s happened. Suzuki made sure it wouldn’t happen on this night. Suzuki is 6-for-10 in two WBC title games.

South Korea beat Japan twice last summer in the Beijing Olympics en route to the gold medal. The South Koreans also beat Japan twice in the inaugural WBC three years ago before the Japanese won their semifinal matchup. And South Korea beat Japan, 3-1, to win the bronze medal in the 2000 Olympics after losing to its rival 8-0 earlier in the Games.

Japan, which outhit South Korea 15-5 and blew several scoring opportunities and stranded 14, took a 3-1 lead with single runs in the seventh and eighth. Yasuyuki Kataoka singled off Jong Hyun-wook to open the seventh, stole second, took third on Suzuki’s bunt single and scored on Hiroyuki Nakajima’s single. Japan had a chance to blow the game open, but after Suzuki took third on Norichika Aoki’s fly to deep right, Kenji Johjima grounded into an inning-ending double play.

Iwamura’s sacrifice fly off Hyunjin Ryu in the eighth gave the Japanese a two-run lead. The run was charged to Jong, who left after giving up a one-out single to Uchikawa. Atsunori Inaba followed with a ground-rule double before Iwamura’s fly to left. (AP)