World Baseball Classic 2023: Scores and Reaction from Wednesday Pool Play Results

Australia delivered the first major upset of the 2023 World Baseball Classic on Wednesday night.

The Aussies pulled off an 8-7 win over South Korea inside the Tokyo Dome to kick off Pool B play.

South Korea was viewed as one of the two favorites, along with Japan, to advance out of Pool B and into the quarterfinals.

Australia’s win shook up those plans and it will force South Korea to play near-perfect baseball over the next week to get out of pool play.

Over in Pool A, the Netherlands are in great shape to be one of the two teams headed to the final eight.

Xander Bogaerts and Jurickson Profar hit a solo home run each to hand the Dutch their second win of the competition.

Panama, who produced 12 runs in its opener, had its bats silenced by a Dutch pitching staff that conceded three runs to their two biggest competitors in Pool A.

Pool B

Australia 8, South Korea 7

Australia authored the first upset of the WBC in a chaotic back-and-forth contest inside the Tokyo Dome that ended with a caught stealing.

South Korea was widely expected to win the contest, as it and Japan were predicted by many to advance out of Pool B.

The Korean pitching staff was unable to slow down the Australian bats in the final three innings.

Robbie Glendinning put the Aussies in the lead with a three-run home in the seventh and Robbie Perkins followed with a three-run shot of his own in the eighth.

Perkins’ three-run shot turned out to be the difference-maker on the scoreboard. He also threw out Tommy Edman for the final out in the ninth inning.

South Korea had its chance to take back control of the game. It produced three runs in the bottom of the eighth to get within one run. Australia’s Sam Holland got out of the jam with a strikeout.

South Korea tried to get a rally going in the ninth, but Edman’s attempt to get into scoring position was denied and it left the field with an unexpected loss in Pool B, which also features Japan, China and the Czech Republic.

China and the Czech Republic are two of the weakest teams in the tournament, so South Korea must beat them to be in a good position to advance.

Wednesday’s loss puts all the pressure on South Korea to perform against Japan on Friday.

The Shohei Ohtani-led Japan team kicks off its WBC slate on Thursday against China inside the Tokyo Dome.

Pool A

Panama 12, Chinese Taipei 5

Panama’s bats erupted for 12 runs in its WBC opener to put a win on the board in Pool A.

Panama broke the game open with a five-run fourth inning that was headlined by Jahdiel Santamaria’s two-run double.

Jonathan Arauz led Panama with three RBI. He delivered runs on two different occasions for the central American side.

The infielder in the New York Mets system was one of five Panamanian players to record multiple hits in the rout.

The 12-run outburst should Panama in tiebreaker situations, if Pool A comes down to runs scored or runs allowed. The Panamanians gained a head start in the offensive categories over Italy, Cuba and the Netherlands.

Panama was unable to keep its offensive momentum going against the Dutch in its second game on Wednesday in Taichung, Taiwan.

Netherlands 3. Panama 1

Xander Bogaerts’ third-inning home run to left field started the scoring for the Netherlands in Wednesday’s second Pool A contest.

Bogaerts’ new San Diego Padres teammate Jurickson Profar doubled the advantage with a solo shot of his own in the fifth.

Bogaerts also scored on a wild pitch in the eighth inning. Panama’s lone run came off an RBI single from Erasmo Caballero.

The Netherlands’ second victory in the tournament put them in a fantastic position to advance out of Pool A.

Bogaerts and Profar admitted after the win that the Netherlands team feels like a family unit, per MLB.com’s Matt Monagan.

The Netherlands should be viewed as the front-runner to get out of Pool A after victories over Panama and Cuba, who were viewed as the two other tough teams in the five-team group.

Panama is in good shape with a 1-1 record, but it probably needs to beat Cuba to feel more comfortable about its passage to the next round.

Cuba and Panama will play each other on Thursday night, over 17 hours after Cuba takes on Italy in one of the Thursday morning contests. Italy is the only team in Pool A yet to play a World Baseball Classic game.

Italy’s roster features Nicky Lopez and Vinnie Pasquantino of the Kansas City Royals and Los Angeles Angels infielder David Fletcher.