South Korea Tops China, 10-1

South Korea beat China, 10-1, in the World Baseball Classic today in Tokyo, closing in on a trip to the second round of the 16-nation tournament.

Lee Seung-yeop homered twice, drove in five runs and finished with four hits for South Korea, which improved to 2-0 in the inaugural tournament. South Korea shut out Taiwan, 2-0, Friday behind pitchers Jae Weong Seo of the Dodgers and Chan Ho Park of the San Diego Padres.

A victory by Japan over Taiwan in a later game would send South Korea -- and Japan -- to the next round in Anaheim, March 12-16.

Lee hit a two-run homer off China starter Chen Kun in the third inning and added a solo shot in the eighth at the Tokyo Dome. Lee also drove in the first run of the game with a sacrifice fly and made it 6-0 with an RBI single in the sixth.

South Korea starter Son Min-han earned the win by giving up one hit and striking out three in four scoreless innings.

China (0-2) got on the scoreboard with a homer by outfielder Yang Shuo in the top of the eighth.

Attendance for the game, which started at 11 a.m. local time, was 3,925. All Group A games are being played in Japan. The top two teams advance to the second round to play the top two teams from Group B, which includes the United States, Canada, Mexico and South Africa.

Japan 18, China 2 -- Tsuyoshi Nishioka and Kosuke Fukudome hit back-to-back homers in the fifth inning Friday to lead Japan.

Seattle Mariner star Ichiro Suzuki, the only position player from the major leagues representing Japan, went one for six with an RBI. Hideki Matsui of the New York Yankees and Chicago White Sox infielder Tadahito Iguchi opted to sit out the tournament.

China tied the score at 2-2 in the bottom of the fourth at the Tokyo Dome on a two-run homer by catcher Wang Wei that just cleared the wall in right field. Playing before a crowd of 15,869, Japan quickly regained the lead in the fifth inning and never looked back.

The game was called after eight innings under the tournament’s mercy rule.

Nishioka connected for a three-run homer to left and Fukudome followed with a solo shot to right that gave Japan a 6-2 lead.