World Baseball Classic scores 2013: Thursday, March 7

A brief look back at all of Thursday’s WBC action, with an updated look at the standings.

Mar 8, 2013, 1:11 PM UTC

USA TODAY Sports

Upsets were the name of the game at the WBC on Thursday, as Italy and the Netherlands played their way to surprise victories.

Here’s a recap of all the day’s action:

Italy 6 Mexico 5

Italy was able to hang tough with Mexico for the first eight innings Thursday, but as the ninth inning approached it looked as though they were going to fall just short. Down to their final two outs against Giants closer Sergio Romo, things looked pretty bleak. But then the Italian squad was able to rally for three straight hits, taking the lead and ultimately the victory on a double from Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo. Mexico almost staged a comeback of their own in the bottom-half of the inning, loading the bases with two outs, but Jorge Cantu hit a harmless grounder to second to end the game and give Italy the surprise win.

Netherlands 6 Cuba 2

The second upset of the day came at the hands of the upstart Netherlands squad, led by youngsters Jonathan Schoop and Andrelton Simmons. The 21-year-old Schoop, a second baseman in the Orioles' system, stole the show Thursday evening, blasting a run-scoring double and a three-run home run to hand Cuba their first loss of the tournament. Left-hander Diegomar Markwell did most of the mound work for the Dutch squad, holding the high-powered Cuban offensive to just one run over six innings of work, but the nine hits and zero strikeouts indicate that Markwell may have been more lucky than good. Cuba got two more home runs -- of the solo variety -- from Alfredo Despaigne and Yulieski Gurriel, but they couldn't do anything with runners on base.

Dominican Republic 9, Venezuela 3

The DR put on an offensive display in San Juan on Thursday afternoon, racking up nine runs on 13 hits -- including five for extra bases -- against an overmatched Venezuelan pitching staff. The Dominican offense knocked the cover off the ball from the get-to, knocking Tigers right-hander Anibal Sanchez out of the game after just ⅓ of an inning with an RBI double from Robinson Cano and a run-scoring single from Nelson Cruz. Cano added another RBI double in the second, then in the fifth Hanley Ramirez hit an absolute bomb to left to give the Dominican club a healthy 6-3 lead. Two more RBI doubles in the seventh -- from Cruz and Alejandro De Aza -- added three insurance runs, sealing the victory over Venezuela.