World Baseball Classic scores 2013: Monday, March 4

Cuba laid a whoopin’ on China, Korea stayed alive, and Australia went home early.

Mar 5, 2013, 1:06 PM UTC

Koji Watanabe

Here’s a brief recap of Monday’s games, as well as an updated look at the standings:

Cuba 12 China 0

Cuba put a whoopin' on China early Monday morning, racking up 12 runs in five innings to invoke the 10-run mercy rule in the top-half of the seventh inning. First baseman Jose Dariel Abreu and second baseman Jose Fernandez led the offensive onslaught for Cuba. Abreu walloped a run-scoring double in the second and then blasted a grand slam to left in the fifth to give him five RBI on the day. Fernandez scored on each of Abreu's hits and crossed the plate two other times as well. Cuba roughed up starter Xin Li pretty good, but did most of their damage against reliever Yu Liu, who lasted just 1⅓ innings while giving up seven. Cuba will take on Japan next to determine the victor of Pool A, while China gets a consolation match against Brazil.

Korea 6 Australia 0

Right-hander Seung Song and five of his South Korean counterparts shutout Australia in Monday’s other morning game. The Korean pitching staff completely shut down the Australian offense, striking out 12 and walking just two on the day. The heart of the Korean lineup did most of the damage on offense, with No. 3 and 4 hitters Seung Yuop Lee and Dae Ho Lee each notching three hits on the day. Australian right-hander Ryan Searle was knocked out of the game after just three innings of work, giving up four runs in the first two innings.

Netherlands 4 Australia 1

Well, so much for the Aussies serving as Round 1 spoilers. Australia doubled their run output for the tournament Monday night, but that's not saying much. The club from Down Under managed just one run on eight hits against their Dutch opponents, with Netherlands starter Robbie Cordemans holding Australia to just two singles in five innings of work. The Netherlands got on the board early against starter Dushan Ruzic, plating all four of their runs in the first two frames. Nationals outfielder Roger Bernadina got the scoring started in the first with an RBI single, and Jonathan Schoop followed in the second with a two-run bomb to left. From there the Netherlands' pitching did the rest of the work, Australia's lone run coming on a seventh inning single from Brad Harman.