Detroit Tigers' Jack O'Loughlin kickstarts Australian upset of Korea in WBC

LAKELAND, Fla. — One of the biggest upsets in the history of the World Baseball Classic took place Thursday inside the historic Tokyo Dome in Japan as Australia stunned Korea, 8-7, in the first game of Pool B play.

The thriller started with Jack O'Loughlin, a 22-year-old right-hander who pitches in the Detroit Tigers' organization. He stepped on the mound — five days before his 23rd birthday — to represent his country on the biggest stage against the powerhouse Korean team.

He pitched two perfect innings.

"It was a roller coaster of emotions," O'Loughlin said, speaking on the phone from his hotel room in Tokyo. "Every time you think you're at the peak, every time you get to what you think is the high point, all of a sudden, it gets higher. You get flooded with the emotions of excitement and nerves."

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Months ago, O'Loughlin heard rumors about Team Australia's selection process for the 2023 World Baseball Classic. The national team, according to those rumors, only planned to take players who competed in the most recent season of the Australian Baseball League.

O'Loughlin hadn't played in the ABL since the 2017-18 season.

That changed this offseason.

O'Loughlin, who pitched 27 games for High-A West Michigan in 2022, returned to his hometown team, the Adelaide Giants. He posted a 3.27 ERA with seven walks and 26 strikeouts across 22 innings in seven starts. His strong performance persuaded Australia to add him to the 50-man preliminary roster for the WBC.

In early February, O'Loughlin learned he received a spot on the 30-man roster and would travel to Tokyo. Earlier this week, Australia manager Dave Nilsson had an important conversation with the young pitcher.

"Just before practice started, I was called into the manager's office with the pitching coach," O'Loughlin said. "That's when they sat me down and told me that I was going to be given the ball for Game 1."

Emotions were running high, but O'Loughlin worked quickly through two scoreless innings against Korea. He retired all six batters in just 21 pitches while mixing in all five of his pitches: a four-seam fastball, sinker, slider, curveball and changeup.

It was the biggest moment of his career.

"There are emotions every time you look up and see the crowd," O'Loughlin said. "Every time you look down at your catcher, you can see he has the green and gold on, and you're like, 'Wow.' Everything starts from the get-go. It can sway things in the direction you want them to go, or it could go the opposite way."

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In the seventh inning, Australia trailed 4-2 as O'Loughlin watched intently from the dugout. A hit-by-pitch, single and sacrifice bunt put two runners in scoring position for the Aussies.

With two outs, Robbie Glendinning — a minor leaguer with the Kansas City Royals — stepped to the plate.

He drilled a third-pitch changeup from right-hander Won Jung Kim for a three-run home run to left field, putting Australia ahead 5-4.

"As soon as I heard the crack of the bat," O'Loughlin said, "and I saw the ball go up in the air, I was like, 'That's got a good chance.' He knew it as soon as he got ahold of it, and our dugout knew that as well. We were out in front of the dugout in half a second. The guys knew it was gone."

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Soon after, Glendinning executed a smart defensive play. Baekho Kang doubled to center off former Tigers reliever Warick Saupold, but after reaching second base, he accidentally stepped off the bag while celebrating.

Glendinning tagged him out to kill the momentum.

"That was incredible," O'Loughlin said.

In the eighth inning, Robbie Perkins — a 28-year-old who last played in the U.S. in Class-A ball back in 2018 — jumped a first-pitch fastball from left-hander Hyeon-Jong Yang for a three-run home run to left field.

O'Loughlin looked up into the lights inside the Tokyo Dome and couldn't immediately find the ball soaring through the air. Once he found it, he knew the outcome.

The Aussies had an 8-4 lead.

"That's when it becomes more of a reality, like we have a really good shot at beating Korea now," O'Loughlin said. "We're not the best team in the world, but we can play the best tournament baseball and become the best tournament team in the world by doing the small things."

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But Korea responded with three runs in the bottom of the eighth, making it a one-run game.

Right-hander Josh Guyer entered for Australia in the bottom of the ninth to face Korea's leadoff hitter, Tommy Edman. The St. Louis Cardinals vet opened with a single to left field.

Edman stole 32 bases in 35 attempts with the Cardinals last season.

"You could see he wanted to run," O'Loughlin said.

Guyer tried to control the running game by mixing up the timing of his delivery and throwing over to first base while recording back-to-back outs on fly balls, with neither deep enough to advance the runner.

"I could never imagine what Guyer was going through," O'Loughlin said. "You could see that he was locked in. He had faith in himself, and we had faith in him. He kept Edman close (to first base) the whole time."

Finally, Edman — whose sprint speed ranked in the 86th percentile in MLB last season — took off for second with two outs. Perkins, the catcher, received the inside fastball and fired a bullet to shortstop Logan Wade.

The throw was on the money to end the game.

"When he decided to run, his jump wasn't the greatest," O'Loughlin said. "Perkins hosed him down. When he made that throw, we ran out onto the field, but we were told to stop. They challenged, but it didn't matter. He was still called out. Once again, the emotions of excitement flooded back in."

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Just like that, the Australian national team had notched one of its biggest wins in history. (The other contender: a 17-7 mercy-rule win against Mexico in the 2009 World Baseball Classic.)

More importantly, Team Australia started 1-0 in Pool B.

Next up is China (Saturday), Japan (Sunday) and Czech Republic (Monday) before the seeding for the single-elimination bracket is determined: The top two teams from all four of the five-team pools advance to the knockout rounds, where three straight wins will be needed for the title.

"It's definitely a big momentum boost," O'Loughlin said. "We've only got four games. This is the boost we need to get through the next game, and then we'll keep that momentum rolling as much as we can."

Of the 14 teams to appear in each of the first four WBC tournaments, three have never advanced to the second round: Australia, Canada and China.

In a March Madness twist, the Aussies plan to be the Cinderella story of the 2023 World Baseball Classic. If that happens, don't forget it all started with O'Loughlin, who went from West Michigan to the mound inside the Tokyo Dome in less than a year.

"Look, Australian baseball is rising," O'Loughlin said. "We weren't ranked as high as Korea. We haven't performed as well as Korea in the past, but this is one of those times where we're a special group of guys, and we're making a push to show everybody else in the world just how good we are."

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers pitcher details Australia's thrilling WBC win vs. Korea