Baseball: Australia stuns giant South Korea in WBC Pool B opener

Australia’s batters belted three home runs and its bullpen barely held on for an 8-7 upset win over South Korea in the World Baseball Classic’s Pool B opener Thursday.

A favorite to be one of two teams advancing to the quarterfinal knockout round here at Tokyo Dome next Wednesday and Thursday, South Korea’s players had been talking about Australia’s power since arriving in Japan and had those concerns confirmed.

South Korea overturned an early two-run deficit on Yang Eui Ji’s three-run fifth-inning homer, and made it 4-2 in the sixth on Park Byung Ho’s RBI double.

Three-run homers by Robbie Gl...