Australia, Netherlands Get Wins in World Baseball Classic

The Associated Press

18:09 JST, March 9, 2023

TOKYO (AP) — Robbie Perkins hit one of Australia’s three homers to beat South Korea 8-7 on Thursday in Group B at the Tokyo Dome.

Australia, leading 5-4 in the top of the eighth, put the game 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.

Netherlands 3, Panama 1

TAICHUNG, Taiwan (AP) — The Netherlands, after beating Cuba in the opener, won its second game in two days in Group A.

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 an single that scored Jose Ramos.

The Netherlands picked up its final run in the eight when Bogaerts scored on a wild pitch by Alberto Baldonado.