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Olympics: USA set as Japan’s date for baseball gold-medal game with 7-2 win over South Korea

USA baseball South Korea Olympics
United States players celebrate clinching their spot in the gold-medal game.
REUTERS/Jorge Silva

The United States will face Japan in baseball’s first Olympic gold-medal game in 13 years after defeating defending champions South Korea 7-2 with a barrage of sixth-inning singles on Thursday.

The title match-up will, for the first time, feature the two most populous baseball-rabid countries, cementing shifts since the sport last appeared in the Olympics in 2008.

Three-time gold medalists, Cuba has lost star power to other countries, failing to make the six-team Games tournament, while Japan has grown ever stronger and the United States found new hunger by adding veterans with nothing to lose to a roster of minor leaguers.

Japan beat both South Korea and the United States on their road to the gold-medal contest, and the United States recorded two wins over the last gold medalists.

Thursday’s loss sends South Korea to the bronze-medal game against the Dominican Republic. Both medal games will be played on Saturday.

South Korea used five different relievers in a momentum-killing sixth inning. They had scored their first run moments before to pull within one at 2-1.

Mark Kolozsvary, Jack Lopez, and Tyler Austin slashed run-scoring singles and Eddy Alvarez added another run on a fielder’s choice as the U.S. rally built a commanding 7-1 lead.

Seven of the nine U.S. hits were singles, accounting for most of their runs.

The big exception was Jamie Westbrook’s fourth-inning solo home run, which soared to the second deck of seats that had been added to Yokohama Baseball Stadium for the Games, snapping his 0-for-7 slump.

South Korea starter Lee Eui-lee, 19, struck out nine with confounding breaking pitches that dropped U.S. batters to a knee. He left the game with his team trailing 2-1.

The loss denies a shot at second consecutive gold medals for South Korea’s Kim Hyun-soo, the former Baltimore Orioles outfielder, and Kang Min-ho.

The Korean squad has had some late-inning magic during these Games, scoring a total of 18 runs after the fourth inning. On Thursday, that golden rally never came.