Puerto Rico pitchers perfect vs. Israel
WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC
PUERTO RICO 10, ISRAEL 0
MIAMI — Jose De Leon and three relievers combined to pitch a perfect game as Puerto Rico routed Israel 10-0 in a World Baseball Classic game called after eight innings Monday night because of the tournament’s 10-run mercy rule.
De León tied a WBC record with 10 strikeouts in 52/3 innings. The righthander was lifted after he fanned Spencer Horwitz on his 64th pitch, one under the tournament limit for starting pitchers in the first round. He exited to a huge ovation from the prohibitive Puerto Rico crowd of 27,813.
Javier Baez doubled twice and Francisco Lindor tripled and singled for Puerto Rico, which finished with 11 hits and improved to 2-1.
Puerto Rico struck quickly against Israel starter Colton Gordon with a threerun first. Báez hit a two-run double and scored on Eddie Rosario’s double.
The extra-base hits continued for Puerto Rico in the second, resulting in another three runs. Kike Hernandez made it 5-0 with a two-run double and raced home on Emmanuel Rivera’s triple.
Lindor’s two-run triple keyed a three-run fifth, and Hernández’s run-scoring single in the eighth ended the game.
SOUTH KOREA 22, CHINA 2
TOKYO — Kunwoo Park and HaSeong Kim hit grand slams in consecutive innings, and South Korea set a World Baseball Classic scoring record with a rout of China in a game between already eliminated teams.
South Korea broke the runs record that had stood since Japan beat China 18-2 in the first round of the initial WBC in 2006.
South Korea (2-2) finished third in Group B and failed to advance past the first round for the third straight WBC. The South Koreans finished third in the initial tournament in 2006 and were runner-up in 2009.
China (0-4) has never advanced past the first round. The last-place finish in the group means it will have to go through qualifying to reach the 2026 tournament.
The South Koreans took a 4-2 lead with a two-run second, then broke open the game with eight runs in the third, six in the fourth and four in the fifth. The game was stopped after five innings under the tournament’s mercy rule, which calls for games to end if a team leads by 15 runs after five innings or by 10 runs after seven.
Park had five RBI, San Diego Padres infielder Ha-Seong Kim had four, and Hyseong Kim and Jung Hoo Lee three each for South Korea, which outhit China 20-4. Park hit his slam in the fourth off Hailong Sun and Ha-Seong Kim hit his in the fifth against Changlong Su.
Winner Hyeong Jun So entered to start the second inning and retired nine straight batters.
Loser Alan Carter, a Los Angeles Angels minor leaguer, allowed 4 runs, 4 hits and 2 walks in 11/3 innings.
BRITAIN 7, COLOMBIA 5
PHOENIX — Jaden Rudd hit a goahead two-run double in the fifth inning, Harry Ford added a solo homer and Britain won its first game of the WBC.
Graham Spraker got the win by pitching 22/3 innings of scoreless relief while Ian Gibaut earned the save. Colombia’s Yapson Gomez — who gave up Rudd’s double in the fifth — took the loss.
Dayan Frias had two hits and two RBI for Colombia, which fell to 1-1 for the tournament. Britain improved to 1-2.
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 6, NICARAGUA 1
MIAMI — San Diego Padres stars Juan Soto and Manny Machado homered, and the Dominican Republic picked up its first win of WBC pool play.
Rafael Devers hit a two-out RBI double in the first against Nicaragua starter JC Ramirez, driving in Soto for a 1-0 lead. Eloy Jimenez’s single in the second scored Soto again and gave the Dominicans a 2-0 lead.
Winner Cristian Javier only allowed 2 hits and struck out 4 in 4 innings.
The Dominican Republic (1-1) doubled its lead in the fourth when Francisco Mejia singled off Fidencio Flores on a grounder to score Willy Adames, then Julio Rodriguez singled to left field to drive in Jeimer Candelario.
Soto blasted a shot to right field off Junior Tellez to make it 5-0 in the fifth, and Machado tagged Tellez in the next inning with a fly ball to right center field.
Soto accounted for three runs and an RBI. Machado added an RBI and had a double in the ninth.
Nicaragua (0-3) made it 6-1 in the eighth after Elian Miranda’s bases-loaded RBI single. Ramirez took the loss.
AUSTRALIA 8, CZECH REPUBLIC 3
TOKYO — Milwaukee Brewers prospect Alex Hall had four RBI as Australia (3-1) advanced past the first round for the first time in five WBC appearances, finishing second in the group behind Japan (4-0). The Czechs (1-3) finished fourth.
Logan Wade hit a tiebreaking, two-run double off the right-field wall in the seventh off loser Marek Minarik, driving in Robbie Glendinning and Aaron Whitefield for a 3-1 lead.
Hall’s homered in the first, the only hit off Martin Schneider in 51/3 innings. Schneider was pulled after 68 pitches, having reached the limit.
Eric Sogard had a tying RBI single in the third off Mitch Neunborn that scored Petr Zyma. Hall hit a two-run triple in the eighth and a run-scoring grounder in the ninth.