Korea stakes claim to baseball gold

By Steve Keating

BEIJING (Reuters) - South Korea toppled defending champions Cuba 7-4 on Tuesday to confirm their status as the surprise package of the Olympic baseball tournament and gold medal contenders.

But the gold medal chances of World Baseball Classic winners Japan warned they should not be forgotten after they pulverized China 10-0 in a game that was ended by the mercy rule after seven innings.

With just one game remaining in preliminary round play, the plucky Koreans have already taken an impressive list of scalps to move top the standings with a 6-0 record.

Triple Olympic gold medalists Cuba, 2000 Olympic champions the United States and Japan have all fallen to the Koreans, who have even surprised manager Kim Kyung-moon with their play.

"When we came into these Games I thought that maybe we would have four victories from the seven preliminaries," Kim told reporters. "But unexpectedly, I think we are fortunate because since we beat the U.S. in a very tough first game the good luck has stayed with us and we have won all our games."

The top-of-the-table clash between the tournament's only unbeaten teams began with Cuba racing to a 3-0 lead in the second inning.

But the Koreans, as they have throughout the Olympics, battled back to push across five runs in the fourth, Ko Young-min providing the big hit with a two-run single.

Cruising along with a 4-0 lead, Japan exploded for six runs in the sixth inning to bring their game with China to an early end.

Tsuyoshi Nishioka smacked a two-run home to open the floodgates as Japan improved to 4-2 setting the stage for a showdown with 4-2 United States in their final preliminary round game on Wednesday.

John Gall had a solo home run to lead off the sixth and Dexter Fowler followed with an RBI double to help the surging Americans past Taiwan 4-2 and their third straight win.

Korea, Cuba, Japan and the United States all move safely through to the semi-finals but Wednesday's games will determine the matchups for the medal round.

(Editing by Steve Ginsburg)