Japan captures second straight WBC title by beating Korea

Mar 24, 2009 - 6:03 AM LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- Ichiro Suzuki collected four hits, including a two-run single in the top of the 10th inning Monday as Japan rallied past Korea, 5-3, to capture its second straight World Baseball Classic championship.

Michihiro Ogasawara, Nakajima Hiroyuki and Akinori Iwamura all drove in runs and Yasuyuki Kataoka had two hits for Japan, which posted a 6-2 win over Korea on Thursday before downing the United States, 9-4, three days later. It finished 7-2 in the tournament.

Daisuke Matsuzaka, who went 3-0 with a 2.45 ERA in the tournament, was named the MVP for the second straight time.

Hisashi Iwakuma tossed 7 2/3 innings, allowing two runs and four hits to help Japan punctuate its successful encore to the Classic's inaugural campaign in 2006, when it defeated Cuba, 10-6, in the championship.

Yu Darvish came on for the ninth, but surrendered two walks before Korea's Bum Ho Lee smacked a single to left field for the tying run. The 22-year-old Darvish benefited, though, from Ichiro's hard single to center, which drove in Iwamura and Seiichi Uchikawa, and notched the win.

Ogasawara recorded an RBI base hit in the third inning to give Japan a 1-0 lead, but Shin-Soo Choo belted a solo home run in the fifth to forge a tie.

In the seventh, Kataoka led off with a single and promptly stole second. Suzuki then reached on an infield single and Nakajima followed with an RBI single to take a 2-1 lead.

Iwamura connected on a sacrifice fly in the eighth, plating Uchikawa for a crucial run. But Korea clawed back in the bottom half of the frame, cutting the deficit in half off Dae Ho Lee's sacrifice fly to deep center.

Toshiya Sugiuchi relieved Iwakuma and got the final out with a runner on first to end the rally before giving way to Darvish.