Israel Gets Second Win, Netherlands Wins Opener

Less than 24 hours after stunning host South Korea, Israel picked up its second win of the World Baseball Classic late Monday night in Seoul.

Ryan Lavarnway hit a two-run homer, Nate Freiman added a three-run shot and Israel blasted Taiwan 15-7 to stay unbeaten in Pool A play.

Israel (2-0) scored four runs in the first inning to knock out Taiwan starter Chin-Lin Kuo (0-1) before the inning was over. Israel led 4-0 after the first, 11-3 by the seventh-inning stretch and 15-3 going into the bottom of the ninth.

Freiman, Ty Kelly (Mets), Ike Davis (Dodgers) and Tyler Krieger (Indians) had three hits apiece to lead a 20-hit outburst. Zach Borenstein (Diamondbacks) added two doubles.

Corey Baker (Cardinals) started and pitched 4 2/3 scoreless innings with three hits allowed, no walks and three strikeouts for the win.

Chi-Hao Chang and Chi-Hsien Chiang each doubled and had two hits for Taiwan (0-1).

Both teams will face the Netherlands in their next contest. Taiwan faces the Dutch on Wednesday at 4:30 a.m. ET and Israel plays the Netherlands at 10 p.m. ET on Wednesday as well.

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NETHERLANDS 5, SOUTH KOREA 0: Jurickson Profar (Rangers) and Randolph Oduber each hit a two-run homer to lead the Netherlands to a win in its WBC opener in Seoul.

Profar’s homer in the first put the Dutch up right away and Oduber’s blast in the sixth made it 5-0. Profar, Oduber, Andrelton Simmons (Angels) and Dashenko Ricardo all had two hits apiece for the Netherlands (1-0).

Rick VandenHurk (1-0) started and pitched four scoreless innings with three hits allowed and two walks to earn the win for the Dutch. He combined with four relievers for a six-hit shutout.

Kyun Min Woo gave up six hits and three runs in just 3.2 innings for Korea (0-2), which entered as the pool favorite but is now teetering on the brink of elimination to advance.

The Netherlands next faces Taiwan on Wednesday at 4:30 a.m. ET and Korea will face Taiwan in its next matchup on Thursday at 4:30 a.m. ET.