South Korea Wins Its Opening Group

TOKYO, March 5 -- Ichiro Suzuki never expected to lose to South Korea.

"I feel ashamed of this defeat," the Seattle Mariners star said Sunday after the South Koreans upset Japan, 3-2, to win Group A in the first round of the inaugural World Baseball Classic.

Lee Seung Yeop (25) receives a hero's welcome outside the South Korean dugout after his two-run homer in the eighth helped upset Japan and clinch Group A. (By Koichi Kamoshida -- Getty Images) MLB Basics Scoreboard   Standings   Statistics   Team index   MLB Section   Who's Blogging? Read what bloggers are saying about this article. Your Online Sports Fitness & Recreation Answers Full List of Blogs (1 links) » Most Blogged About Articles On washingtonpost.com | On the web Save & Share Tag This Article  Saving options 1. Save to description:  Headline (required)  Subheadline 2. Save to notes (255 character max):  Subheadline  Blurb  None 3. Tag This Article

Lee Seung Yeop hit a go-ahead, two-run homer in the eighth inning of a game that mattered little because both nations were ensured of advancement.

Suzuki's game-ending flyout left him 1 for 3 Sunday and 3 for 11 (.273) in the three Group A games.

"If I was satisfied with my performance, I should quit baseball," Suzuki said.

Dae Sung Koo, whose contract was sold last week by the New York Mets to a South Korean club, pitched two scoreless innings of relief to get the win as the South Koreans overcame a two-run deficit.

Chan Ho Park of the San Diego Padres pitched the ninth for the save. After he retired Suzuki for the final out, South Korean players ran onto the field and mobbed the pitcher.

South Korea (3-0) and Japan (2-1) will travel to Arizona for exhibition games against major league teams, then go to Anaheim, Calif., for the second round, to be played from March 12 to March 16. Their second-round opponents will include the top two teams from Group B, which has the United States, Canada, Mexico and South Africa.

Lee, who holds the Asian record of 56 homers in a season, signed with the Yomiuri Giants in the offseason after spending the last two seasons with the Pacific League's Chiba Lotte Marines. The game was played before a crowd of 40,353 at the Tokyo Dome.

Japan went ahead in the first when Tsuyoshi Nishioka scored from third on an infield grounder by Nobuhiko Matsunaka, and Munenori Kawasaki's second-inning homer made it 2-0. Lee Byung Kyu hit a sacrifice fly in the fifth.

With the bases loaded and two outs in the fourth, South Korean right fielder Lee Jin Young made a fully extended diving catch to grab Nishioka's sinking liner. South Korean fans in left field gave him a standing ovation, and Japanese fans gave him polite applause.