Dominicans dominate Korea with mercy-rule win to reach WBC semis

The Dominican Republic is off to the World Baseball Classic after crushing South Korea in a 10-0 seven-inning mercy-rule quarterfinal win Friday.

Austin Wells sealed the Dominicans' spot in the semis with a three-run walk-off homer against Korea's Hyeong Jun So in the bottom of the seventh.

Albert Pujols' star-studded squad will play the winner of the United States-Canada quarterfinal on Sunday at LoanDepot Park in Miami.

The Dominicans, now 5-0 in the WBC, wasted little time jumping on Korea with a three-run second inning. Junior Caminero ignited the offense with an RBI double that scored Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who raced around third and flew into home plate with a slide reminiscent of his dash at Yankee Stadium last October.

The Dominican Republic then forced Korea to use four pitchers as they scored four runs in the bottom of the third to put the game out of reach.

Dominican ace Cristopher Sánchez allowed just two hits while striking out eight over five shutout innings. He finished with a flourish, striking out his final four batters. Albert Abreu followed by striking out three in a pair of flawless frames out of the bullpen.

Fernando Tatis Jr. also drove in a pair of runs to bring his tournament total to 11 RBIs. That's the most ever in a single WBC by a Dominican hitter and just two shy of the single-tournament record, according to Sarah Langs of MLB.com.

This year marks the first time the Dominicans have reached the semifinals since 2013, when the nation won its only WBC title. Like in 2013, the team has completely dominated. Wells' walk-off shot was the Dominicans' 14th homer of the tournament, tying the single-WBC record set by Mexico in 2009, per Langs.

Though the Koreans were in the quarterfinals for the first time since 2009 after advancing on tiebreakers, they appeared overmatched in Friday's contest. Former MLB All-Star Hyun Jin Ryu, who returned to his nation's domestic league in 2024, didn't make it out of the second inning and was charged with three earned runs in the loss.