Robbie Perkins hit one of Australia’s three home runs in its 8-7 victory over South Korea in the World Baseball Classic opener for both teams on Thursday (Wednesday night PT) at the Tokyo Dome.
Australia, leading 5-4 in the top of the eighth, put the Group B win away with a three-run shot by Perkins. The blast came off Hyeon-Jong Yang, who had entered in relief in the inning and made only seven pitches and got no one out.
Australia went ahead 2-0 in the fifth, but South Korea rallied with three runs in the bottom half of the inning. That came on Euiji Yang’s three-run, line-drive home run to left field.
South Korea added another run in the sixth. But Australia scored three in the seventh to take the lead.
The seventh inning also featured a three-run homer from Robbie Glendinning, with Australia living off its power game.
South Korea scored three runs in its eighth – on five walks and a hit batter – to cut the lead to 8-7 but could not break through in the ninth.
THE NETHERLANDS 3, PANAMA 1: The Netherlands, after beating Cuba in the opener, won its second game in two days in a Group A game in Taichung, Taiwan.
Padres shortstop Xander Bogaerts homered in the third to give the Dutch a 1-0 lead. Jurickson Profar added to the lead in the fifth with another one-run home run.
Panama’s Erasmo Caballero cut the lead to 2-1 in the sixth on a single that scored Jose Ramos.
The Netherlands picked up its final run in the eighth when Bogaerts scored on a wild pitch by Alberto Baldonado.
TEAM USA LOSES EXHIBITION: Team USA is packed with considerable power as it defends its 2017 WBC title, but the expected power was absent Wednesday night as the squad was limited to four hits in a 5-1 exhibition loss to the San Francisco Giants in front of a crowd of 6,690 in Scottsdale, Arizona.
“It wasn’t the way I drew it up,” Team USA manager Mark DeRosa said. “But we got off the field with everybody healthy.”
DeRosa is hoping the team comes together quickly and uses…
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