In Miami, Juan Soto, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Junior Caminero and Austin Wells homered as the Dominican Republic routed the Netherlands 12-1 in seven innings Sunday to remain unbeaten in Group D.
The game ended under the mercy rule when Soto's two-run blast in the bottom of the seventh gave the Dominican Republic a double-digit advantage. It was the third game of the tournament that did not go nine innings; Japan beat Taiwan 13-0 and Taiwan routed the Czech Republic 14-0 in Group C.
The Dominican Republic has outscored its opponents 24-4 through two games at loanDepot Park.
Fernando Tatis Jr. and Ketel Marte had three walks each for the Dominicans. Starter Luis Severino allowed one run and three hits while striking out five over four innings.
The Dominicans broke it open with a six-run fifth. Caminero hit a three-run homer and Wells added a two-run blast. Marte’s sacrifice fly made it 10-1.
Caminero’s second homer of the tournament had an exit velocity of 115.8 m.p.h.
The Dominican Republic struck quickly with a two-run first against Arij Fransen, who took the loss. Guerrero hit an RBI single and Marte scored from third on a throwing error by shortstop Xander Bogaerts.
Didi Gregorius narrowed the deficit for the Netherlands (1-2) with his solo homer in the second before Guerrero’s two-run drive in the third made it 4-1.
JAPAN 4, AUSTRALIA 3
TOKYO — Defending champion Japan rallied from 1-0 down to beat Australia 4-3 on Sunday behind a seventh-inning, two-run homer with two out by Masataka Yoshida in the World Baseball Classic.
Japan added two insurance runs in the eighth. Ukyo Shuto scored on Teruaki Sato’s double and Sosuke Genda came in when Ky Hampton issued a walk with the bases loaded.
Japan needed those runs.
Alex Hall pulled Australia closer with a home run in the ninth, and Rixon Wingrove hit another on the next at-bat to make it 4-3.
Japan was already guaranteed of advancing to the quarterfinals, but the victory assured Japan of topping Pool C. Japan closes play on Tuesday against Czechia.
Australia can clinch the other quarterfinal spot from the pool if it defeats South Korea on Monday.
Japan was kept in check throughout the game by Australian pitching until Yoshida got to Jon Kennedy, Australia’s fifth pitcher of the night, with a homer to right field.
Kennedy was the losing pitcher. The win went to Chihiro Sumida with a save for Taisei Ota.
Japan had scored all but one of its runs in the first two games of the tournament with home runs.
Australia scored in the sixth on sloppy baseball by Japan. Aaron Whitefield doubled and then stole third base and came home on a throwing error by Japanese catcher Kenya Wakatsuki.
Japan had its best early chance in the fourth, loading the bases with two out and Shohei Ohtani up. However, that ended when Shugo Maki was picked off second by Australian catcher Robbie Perkins with Ohanti standing in the box.
Although Japan had only five hits, it did get 12 walks from Australian pitching.
PANAMA 4, CANADA 3
Rubén Tejada drove in two runs with a pinch-hit single in the sixth inning, sending Panama to its first victory in Pool A.
Enrique Bradfield Jr. had three hits for Panama, including an RBI single. Luis Castillo also had a run-scoring single, and Miguel Cienfuegos pitched 2 1/3 hitless innings in relief for the rain-delayed win.
Panama opened WBC play with tough losses against Cuba on Friday and Puerto Rico on Saturday at Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan. Panama faces winless Colombia in its last group game on Monday.
Abraham Toro hit an RBI double for Canada, which dropped to 1-1. Jameson Taillon pitched 3 2/3 innings of one-run ball.
Helped by errors on first baseman Josh Naylor and losing pitcher James Paxton, Panama scored three unearned runs in the sixth.
With two down and the bases loaded, Tejada hit a soft liner up the middle. Canada shortstop Otto Lopez got to the ball behind the bag but was unable to make a play. Jose Ramos and Christian Bethancourt scored to give Panama a 3-2 lead.
The speedy Bradfield followed with a bunt single to second, driving in Miguel Amaya.
Canada got one back on Owen Caissie’s RBI double in the eighth, but Humberto Mejía fanned pinch-hitter Tyler Black for the final out of the inning.
Following a rain delay, Dario Agrazal struck out two in a scoreless ninth for the save.
CHINESE TAIPEI 5, KOREA 4
Earlier Sunday, Chinese Taipei defeated Korea 5-4 in 10 innings with Chieh-Hsien Chen — who began as the designated runner — scoring the winning run in the top of the inning on a sacrifice bunt by Kun-Yu Chiang
Chinese Taipei improved to 2-2 and has completed play in Pool C. Korea is 1-2 and finishes play on Monday against Australia. Australia has already beaten Chinese Taipei.
Chinese Taipei hit three home runs in the game, but it was the small ball that saved the day in the end.
Yu Chang hit a solo shot in the first and Tsung-Che Cheng had another one in the second with Stuart Fairchild giving Chinese Taipei a 4-3 lead on a two-run shot in the eighth. It was Fairchild's second home run of the tournament. The other was a grand slam against Czechia.
“That was one of the most fun games I've ever played in my life,” said Fairchild, an outfielder in the Cleveland Guardians organization who is playing because his mother is from Chinese Taipei.
Fairchild's home run looked like it might be enough, but not quite.
Korea rallied as it did several times throughout the game and tied it at 4-4 in the bottom of the eighth on a double by Do Yeong Kim with Hyeseong Kim scoring.
Korea got close to scoring the tying run in the bottom of the 10th, but Ju Won Kim was thrown out on a close play at home. A replay showed he was out.
Yi Chang got the victory for Chinese Taipei, with Jyun-Yue Tseng picking up the save. The loss went to Woo-Suk-Go.
CUBA 7, COLOMBIA 4
Ariel Martinez and Erisbel Arruebarrena homered in a four-run first inning, helping Cuba improve to 2-0 in Group A.
Yiddi Cappe added a big two-run triple in the sixth. Yoelkis Guibert had two of Cuba’s eight hits, and Denny Larrondo pitched two innings for the win at Puerto Rico's Hiram Bithorn Stadium.
Cuba beat Panama 3-1 in its WBC opener on Friday. Next up is a showdown with Puerto Rico on Monday night.
Tito Polo drove in two runs for winless Colombia, which faces Panama on Monday. Gio Urshela had a run-scoring single.
Colombia is 2 for 28 with runners in scoring position over its three WBC games. It has left 29 runners on base.
Martinez hit a three-run shot to right on a 2-1 fastball from Luis Patiño. Roel Santos walked and Yoán Moncada was hit by a pitch before Martinez’s opposite-field drive.
Arruebarrena made it 4-1 with a one-out solo shot, chasing Patiño.
Colombia trimmed Cuba’s lead to 7-4 when Polo was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the seventh. But Luis Romero came in and retired pinch-hitter Daniel Vellojin on a bouncer back to the mound, ending the inning.
Cuba’s Yoan López worked out of a jam in the eighth, and Raidel Martinez handled the ninth for his second save.
ITALY 7, GREAT BRITAIN 4
Andrew Fischer homered and drove in two runs, and J.J. D’Orazio also went deep to lead Italy over Britain 7-4 in Pool B play.
Italy improved to 2-0 after winning its opener against Brazil on Saturday and Britain fell to 0-3 after losses to Mexico and the United States.
The game was tied at 2-2 with one out in the fourth when Zach Dezenzo doubled for Italy. There were two outs in the inning when an RBI-single by Fischer put the Italians on top. D’Orazio reached on an error before a double by Miles Mastrobuoni sent another run home.
Dante Nori, who homered twice Saturday, added an RBI single to push the lead to 5-2.
Dezenzo walked with one out in the fifth and scored on a triple by Sam Antonacci. A throwing error by Jazz Chisholm Jr. on the play allowed Antonacci to score to put Italy up 7-2.
Nate Eaton’s second double opened the eighth and he scored on a single by Chisholm to cut the lead. Britain added a run on a wild pitch later in the inning to get within 7-4.
Eaton hit a leadoff double a day after connecting on Tarik Skubal’s first pitch for a home run in the loss to the U.S. Chisholm then singled before stealing second base with one out in the first. There were two outs in the inning when Dylan DeLucia threw consecutive wild pitches to let two runners score and give Britain an early lead.
Fischer cut the lead to 2-1 when he opened Italy’s third with a home run. D’Orazio followed with his home run to right-centre field to tie it.
ISRAEL 5, NICARAGUA 0
Noah Mendlinger had three hits and an RBI as Israel beat Nicaragua 5-0 in Miami.
Baltimore Orioles right-hander Dean Kremer threw 4 1/3 innings in his start for Israel, which improved to 1-1 in Pool D. Kremer allowed two hits and struck out four.
Nicaragua dropped to 0-3 and became the first team in the pool to be eliminated. The Nicaraguans remain winless in tournament history after they went 0-4 in their debut in 2023.
Zach Levenson’s two-run single and RBI singles from Cole Carrigg and Harrison Bader in the fifth made it 5-0.
Four Israel relievers followed Kremer and kept Nicaragua hitless the rest of the way. Tommy Kahnle closed with a perfect ninth.
Mendlinger gave Israel an early advantage with his RBI single in the second.
Mark Vientos singled and Omar Mendoza walked against Kremer to start the fifth. Kremer then ended his 63-pitch outing by striking out Juan Montes.
Josh Mallitz relieved Kremer and, after walking Melvin Novoa, retired Freddy Zamora on a double-play grounder.
Nicaragua starter Carlos Rodriguez gave up one run and four hits in four innings.
MEXICO 16, BRAZIL 0
Alejandro Kirk, Jarren Duran, Alek Thomas and Julian Ornelas all homered as Mexico romped to a 16-0 win over Brazil in six innings.
The Pool B game in Houston was halted early because of a WBC mercy rule that ends games if a team is up by 15 or more runs after the fifth.
Mexico also beat Britain 8-2 in its opener Friday and will meet the United States (2-0) on Monday night.
Mexico led by five before a huge fourth inning. Duran drove in two runs with a double before Kirk’s three-run homer made it 10-0.
Kirk had an RBI double in Mexico’s four-run first. Duran’s homer on Eric Pardinho’s first pitch of the second made it 5-0.
Mexico manager Benji Gil pinch-hit for Duran and Kirk along with fellow major leaguers Randy Arozarena and Jonathan Aranda in the fifth with his team up 11-0.
But that didn’t stop Mexico from scoring. The team added a run in the fifth before a two-run shot by Thomas pushed the lead to 14-0 with one out in the sixth.
A two-run homer by Ornelas made it 16-0 with two outs to end it and start a huge celebration by the pro-Mexico crowd.
Mexico starter Taijuan Walker struck out three and walked two in 3 1/3 innings. Brazil didn’t get a hit until Gabriel Maciel singled off Roel Ramírez with two outs in the fifth.
In the WBC for just the second time and first since 2013, Brazil (0-3) was eliminated from advancing after losing to the U.S. and Italy. The team is 0-6 all-time in the tournament after losing to Japan, Cuba and China in 2013.
Brazil will wrap up pool play Monday against Britain, which also was eliminated Sunday.
1:59
1:11