South Korea Beats Japan 3-1 to Win Fifth Straight Asian Games Baseball Gold

South Korea defeated Japan 3-1 in the men’s baseball final at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on September 27, scoring twice in the eighth inning to win a fifth consecutive gold medal.

Kim Do-yeong broke a 1-1 tie with an infield single and Moon Bo-gyeong followed with an RBI single at Toyohashi Municipal Stadium. Park Yeong-hyun then protected the two-run lead, striking out the final batter with two runners aboard to complete South Korea’s championship response to a 5-0 loss against Japan in the Super Round two days earlier.

South Korea answers after Japan ties the final

South Korea took the lead in the second inning. Yoon Dong-hee opened the frame with a double and Moon Hyun-bin drove him home with a single, giving the defending champions a 1-0 advantage.

Kwak Bin kept Japan scoreless through six innings and struck out nine, but the hosts finally broke through in the seventh. Ryosuke Aizawa and Shohei Mizutani singled before Yuki Sato delivered a game-tying RBI single to left.

Jo Byeong-hyeon replaced Kwak with one out and two runners aboard. He struck out Masashi Maruyama and Yuki Tsujimoto to keep the score level and shift the momentum back to South Korea.

Kim Do-yeong and Moon Bo-gyeong deliver in the eighth

Kim Ji-chan opened the eighth with a double to left-center and moved to third on Cho Hyung-woo’s sacrifice bunt. Japan briefly appeared to escape when Kim was caught in a rundown on Jung Joon-jae’s ground ball, but South Korea rebuilt the threat with two outs.

Kim Do-yeong hit a hard ground ball for an infield single that scored Kim Joo-won and restored the lead. Moon Bo-gyeong then singled to center to bring home Jung Joon-jae and make it 3-1.

Japan put runners at the corners with one out in the bottom of the eighth, prompting South Korea to call on Park Yeong-hyun. The right-hander struck out Aizawa and retired Yano on a fly ball, then returned for the ninth.

Park recorded two quick outs before a walk and a single gave Japan one last chance. He struck out pinch-hitter Masato Shibasaki to end the game and earn the save.

Fifth straight Asian Games baseball title

South Korea finished with 12 hits and its pitchers combined for 15 strikeouts while holding Japan to seven hits. Kwak allowed one run over 6 1/3 innings, Jo earned the win with three strikeouts in a scoreless inning, and Park struck out three over 1 2/3 scoreless innings.

The victory extended South Korea’s Asian Games baseball championship streak to five tournaments: Guangzhou 2010, Incheon 2014, Jakarta-Palembang 2018, Hangzhou 2022 and Aichi-Nagoya 2026. It also turned the final into a direct reversal of the Super Round meeting, when Japan shut out the KBO-based roster 5-0.

Japan earned silver after reaching the final unbeaten, while South Korea completed its run with the tournament’s biggest prize and another chapter in one of Asian baseball’s defining rivalries.