South Korea's World Baseball Classic squad fell 4-2 to the Major League Los Angeles Dodgers at an exhibition game Thursday, disappointing fans hoping for repeat of the team's performance at the 2006 World Baseball Classic.
South Korea took a 2-1 lead in the top of the fifth in the friendly match at Glendale, Ariz., with an infield hit by outfielder Lee Jin-young who knocked in a grand slam against Taiwan during the first round of the tournament in Tokyo, according to Yonhap News Agency.
The Dodgers tied the score in the seventh, and Taiwanese infielder Hu Chin-lung drove in two more runners off Korea's closer Lim Chang-young with the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth, outdoing Korea 4-2.
The disappointing finish followed a 10-4 loss to the San Diego Padres Wednesday.
Manager Kim In-sik said a day before the match that his players were struggling with jet lag after a 10-hour flight from Tokyo to Phoenix early this week.
The South Korean squad, which took gold at last year's Beijing Olympics, advanced to the eight-nation second round of the WBC as the winner of Pool A by beating archrival Japan 1-0 in their final match.
The squad will move to San Diego Saturday and take on the runner-up of Pool B, either Cuba or Mexico, Sunday.