Ko Woo-seok's fight against the 'three MLB guns' put to sleep → The only 'one' in South Korea, the dignity of the three-way exit, "We'll all cheer up and go to the U.S. together!"

*This content was translated by AI.

It was 13 miracles made by desperation. Detroit Tigers bullpen pitcher Ko Woo-seok (28) showed off his stability by completely blocking Japan's proud three major league batters. Ko Woo-suk, who became the only pitcher among the seven pitchers who played against Japan on the 7th, raised expectations for the match against Taiwan on the 8th.

Ko Woo-seok took the mound as South Korea's fourth pitcher in the bottom of the sixth inning when he faced Japan in Group C in the first round of the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) at Tokyo Dome, Japan, on the 7th, and finished one inning with a flawless three-out. Ko's maximum speed of throwing 13 pitches on the day was 95.4 miles per hour (about 154 kilometers).

In front of Ko Woo-seok, who took the mound in a tie, Japanese baseball's pride and active major leaguers were waiting one after another. However, Ko Woo-suk overwhelmed him with his ball power.

Masataka Yoshida (Boston Red Sox) was driven to two balls and one strike, but he induced a fly ball to the third base with a fastball of 95.3 miles per hour (about 153.4 kilometers). Yoshida, who had the best hitting sense by hitting a home run in the previous at-bat, was pushed back by Ko Woo-seok's powerful fastball.

The second batter was Kazuma Okamoto (Toronto Blue Jays). He played for the Yomiuri Giants in the 2025 season and was a player who will play in the Major League from this season. Ko Woo-seok, who threw a sharp cutter and grounded Okamoto to shortstop again, pitched 95.4 miles (153.5 kilometers), the highest speed of the day, against Japan's biggest slugger Murakami Munetaka (Chicago White Sox). Ko Woo-seok, who showed off his ball power, did not have to overdo it. This is because the Taiwan match is scheduled for 12 p.m. on the 8th. Ko Woo-seok passed the mound to Park Young-hyun and left the game.

After the game, Ko Woo-seok said, "I personally think it's a relief because I think the control is better than the warm-up match, but I'm just sad because I lost the game a little bit."

Asked if he had heard about the game against Japan in advance, he said, "Even if you didn't tell me, I was always preparing to go out every game. It's because I threw it in that situation," he said.

Regarding the good pitching result on the day, Ko Woo-seok said, "Unfortunately, I met only good hitters and thought I should throw it in a difficult way. But fortunately, the result seems to have been good. In order to be fully my skills, I think my skills have been upgraded only when I show good pitching in the upcoming games. Also, I thought of the team first, "If you throw it like that, the national team will produce good results."

Although he finished the game without losing a point, Ko Woo-seok goes for a bigger goal. The match against Taiwan on the 8th is against Australia on the 9th. Finally, he said, "We still have two games left, so we have to put in good results. All the players said, "I really want to cheer up and go to the second round in the United States."

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*This content was translated by AI.