The World Baseball Classic saw three games in action from Monday night through Tuesday morning, so we’ll do some quick hitting here to get everyone up to speed. We’ve got the full schedule, scores and standings here as well. We start Tuesday’s action with the Cinderella story that is continuing to develop.
Israel 15, Chinese Taipei 7
The big story Monday morning was Israel pulling off the 2-1 upset over Korea in extra innings. This time there would be no such drama as the 41st-ranked team in the world grabbed a 4-0 lead in the first inning and never looked back. Israel is now 2-0 in pool play and has an excellent chance to advance to the second round. What a story.
In this one, Ryan Lavarnway homered in the third inning to make it 6-0:
Nate Freiman added a three-run homer in the ninth to push the lead to 15-3.
Chinese Taipei would score four in the bottom of the ninth, but the game was already over.
Cardinals minor leaguer Corey Baker started and worked 4 2/3 scoreless innings for Israel. Ty Kelly, Ike Davis, Freiman and Tyler Krieger each had three-hit games for the winners. (Box score)
Japan 11, Cuba 6
A close game quickly became otherwise when Japan put up a five-spot in the fifth inning, pushing a 2-1 lead to 7-1. In the late innings, a see-saw battle took place. Cuba closed the gap to 7-4 in the top of the seventh, but Japan answered with a two-run seventh to make it 9-4. Cuba then scored two more in the eighth to make it 9-6, but Japan again answered with two, getting the lead to 11-6.
Nobuhiro Matsuda starred for Japan, as noted in this recap video:
Ayumu Ishikawa allowed only two hits and a run in four innings for Japan, picking up the win. (Box score)
Kingdom of Netherlands 5, Korea 0
Rangers infielder Jurickson Profar got things started for Netherlands in the first inning with this shot:
And Netherlands never looked back. Andrelton Simmons and Profar combined for four hits, two runs and three RBI as the top two spots in the Netherlands order while their pitching staff scattered six hits, led by starter Rick van den Hurk. (Box score)
Korea is now 0-2 and has only scored one run in 19 innings of play. Remember, they lost in extras to Israel Monday morning.
So, here’s Pool A:
Israel 2-0
Netherlands 1-0
Taipei 0-1
Korea 0-2
The top two teams advance to the second round and at this point it’s hard to see Israel not making it. By the same token, it’s hard to see Korea finding a way to advance. It is possible to have three 1-2 teams (with a 3-0 Israel) and then there would be a tiebreaker game, though, so nothing is official.
In Pool B, we only have Japan at 1-0 and Cuba at 0-1. China and Australia haven’t played yet.
Pool C (USA, Canada, Dominican Republic and Colombia) starts Thursday. Pool D (Mexico, Italy, Venezuela, Puerto Rico) does as well.