South Korea manager Kim In-sik said he only had one card left to play. The veteran skipper had been itching to use a pinch hitter, and the top of the ninth inning, with his team down three runs against rival Japan, seemed to be as good of a time as any.
That player, Oh Jae-won, came up with a hit that helped ignite a rally and, in a bitter bit of irony, a man who was cheered by a number of Japanese fans less than a month ago was the one who struck the crushing blow in the end.
Japan Series MVP Lee Dae-ho hit a go-ahead two-run single as South Korea scored four runs in the top of the ninth to rally into the Premier 12 final with a 4-3 victory over Japan in front of a stunned crowd of 40,258 on Thursday night at Tokyo Dome.