Korea moves on to quarters with every run needed to settle 3-way tiebreaker

TOKYO -- Korea began its week celebrating home runs by spreading their arms wide as if they were on an airplane, carrying an inflatable "M" to stand for Miami. On Monday night, needing a win against Australia and for everything to go exactly right, it made it happen.

Forget the wings made out of arms, Korea is getting on a real airplane. Bo Gyeong Moon clubbed a two-run homer and collected four RBIs and Hyun Min Ahn played the hero in the ninth, as Korea advanced to the quarterfinals in the World Baseball Classic with a 7-2 win over Australia at Tokyo Dome.

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It's a moment that Korea manager Ji-Hyun Ryu deemed the greatest of his career.

"All the players played with a lot of tension," Ryu said. "Overall, all the effort by the players made this great contribution of winning."

Korea (2-2), as the runner-up in Pool C behind Japan (3-0), will now face the winner of Pool D at 6:30 p.m. ET (FS2) on Friday in Miami.

"It's been 17 years since we advanced to the second round of the World Baseball Classic," Moon said. "It is such an honor to be part of such a historical moment. I'm so grateful."

As it turned out, Korea needed every one of its runs on Monday. Because the win created a three-way tie in Pool C among Korea, Australia and Chinese Taipei, the run quotient tiebreaker went into effect, awarding Korea a trip to the quarterfinals based on its number of runs scored and defensive outs collected. In other words, had Korea won by fewer than five runs in nine innings, Australia would've advanced despite the loss.

"What made it difficult for us is not the offense to score, but also to minimize the earned runs of the other two," said Ryu.

The team was well aware of what it needed to do all game long.

"This is the WBC tournament, it’s the highest level in the world," Moon said. "We have a lot of great hitters and great pitchers. We had to score a lot of runs against some great pitchers and what was the most difficult was to keep them from scoring more than two runs."

That made Ahn's sacrifice fly in the top of the ninth the biggest moment of the game.

Moon put Korea on top with a 430-foot two-run homer in the second inning off Australia starter Lachlan Wells -- who was facing Ju Young Son, his LG Twins teammate and Team Korea starter. Korea added two more runs in the third, when Jahmai Jones and Korea captain Jung Hoo Lee opened the frame with back-to-back doubles, then Moon followed with a double of his own to plate Lee. Moon wasn't done, as he knocked in a fifth run for Korea with an RBI single in the fifth, which was his Classic-leading 11th RBI. Do Yeong Kim drove in a sixth run for Korea with a two-out opposite-field single.

Still, nothing was decided.

Until the eighth, Robbie Glendinning had accounted for the Aussies' only run with a solo homer to lead off the fifth. But a one-out RBI single from Travis Bazzana with Australia down to its final five outs cut Korea's lead to 6-2, briefly giving Australia a path to the quarterfinals. He erupted with emotion on first base, showing just how much it meant to play for his nation.

"He should be proud of his performance, even though he's crying in the locker room right now," Australia manager Dave Nilsson said. "Because he didn't come here for himself, he came here for Australia."

Australia was unable to put together any sustained rally, however, thanks in part to three double plays turned by Korea. Seven Korea pitchers scattered 11 baserunners (five hits, five walks, one hit batter), with Australia unable to capitalize.

Ryu called Korea's pool finale a "must-win game by pitching," and seven pitchers -- from Son, the starter, to Dane Dunning, who got a crucial double play in the seventh, to Byeong Hyeon Jo, who had to record the last five outs -- were able to limit the damage.

"With tonight's great pressure, we made it by a younger pitcher [Son], and some of them gave up a run but they also minimized [the Australia threat]," Ryu said. "So all this effort made a great balance."

The game was decided in the ninth, when an errant throw by Australia shortstop Jarryd Dale on an attempted forceout on a fielder's choice from Lee put runners at first and third with one out, setting up Ahn's sac fly that proved to be the clincher for Korea.

Dale had been a defensive stalwart all tournament, but after the ball bounced off reliever Jack O'Loughlin's glove, he seemed to hesitate between holding the ball and making the throw. That little moment made the biggest difference.

"Obviously I'm disappointed to see him make that error," Nilsson said. "He'd been playing fantastic defense for us all tournament. He backed himself, he thought he could get the guy at second. He didn't have a grip of it and threw the ball to right field."

While Korea held a large lead, had Jo allowed a single run, it would have been eliminated. After walking Chris Burke with one out in the ninth, first baseman Rixon Wingrove hit a flare to the right-center-field gap, spelling danger for Korea if it dropped in. Instead, Lee raced over to make the diving snag to help save the day.

“After he hit a fly ball to right field, my teammate made a great catch," Jo said. "On behalf of the country of Korea, I'm so grateful to clinch a berth to the next round and move to Miami. All I can say is, I was doing my best."

After Australia opened the group stage with a 2-0 record, it dropped a tight game to Japan on Sunday night before its loss to Korea. The team was left bereft on the dugout after the end of the game, tears streaming down the players' faces.

"The message was, we didn't meet our assignment, we kind of failed," Nilsson said. "But at the same time, we did a lot of good things and showed that we can play on this stage. We have more work to do. We have more improvements to make in the big moments. We'll keep looking forward, and we'll keep working on building the program. I told the players how much I believe in them and how much I trust them. I'm there for them when they win, and I'm there for them when they lose."

While Korea now moves to Miami to await its next opponent, Australia will head home. Its next challenge will be the Premier12 tournament and qualifying for the 2028 Summer Olympics.