U.S. dumps Venezuela to advance at WBC

TORONTO (Reuters) - Kevin Youkilis crushed a two-run homer to cap a big sixth inning for the United States as they came from behind to beat Venezuela 15-6 and secure a spot in the second round of the World Baseball Classic on Sunday.

Determined to atone for an embarrassing eighth place at the inaugural Classic in 2006, the U.S. improved to 2-0 and top Pool C but were made to work for their win by the scrappy Venezuelans, who led 3-2 until the sixth inning.

In Mexico City, Cuba slammed a WBC record six home runs to open Pool B play with an 8-1 thrashing of South Africa, while in San Juan, the Dominican Republic rebounded from a shock defeat to the Netherlands in their Pool D opener to throttle Panama 9-0.

Venezuela's sixth-inning collapse began with Victor Zambrano loading the bases then walking Mark DeRosa to bring across Youkilis with the tying run.

Chris Iannetta, the next man to the plate, put the U.S. in front with a three-run double off the wall, which was followed by a two-run double from Dustin Pedroia.

Youkilis then delivered the knockout punch, the Boston Red Sox first baseman taking Yoel Hernandez, Venezuela's third pitcher of the inning, over the wall in center for a 10-3 lead.

"We gave ourselves a chance to have a big innings," DeRosa told reporters. "Tonight was one of those nights where guys were capitalizing on big two out knocks.

"We were loading the bases up and doing the little things right and it turned into scoring 15 runs."

Venezuela chipped two runs off the U.S. lead in the bottom of the sixth but Adam Dunn answered back in the top of the seventh with a leadoff homer, his second of the tournament.

IMPRESSIVE DISPLAY

The United States piled on three more runs in the eighth and Ryan Braun added a solo homer in the ninth to complete the rout.

It was another impressive display of power by the Americans, who slammed three home runs for the second straight game and ripped seven Venezuelan pitchers for 16 hits.

"As a manager this is what gets you really upset," said Venezuela manager Luis Sojo. "You want the bullpen to execute but that wasn't the case.

"When you get behind in the count in front of these major league players from the United States, you're always going to get this kind of consequence. We have to move on but this can't happen again."

Venezuela now await the winner of Monday's game between Canada and Italy to set up a showdown for the second ticket out of the first round.

In Tokyo, South Korea sailed through to the second round by crushing China 14-0 in a lopsided contest ended after seven innings by the tournament's "mercy rule."

The South Koreans now face Japan on Monday in a game that will decide top spot in Pool A.

(Additional reporting by Jason Lange in Mexico City; Editing by Nick Mulvenney)