Netherlands, Taiwan, Japan win in WBC

• Tweet

TAICHUNG, Taiwan, March 2 (UPI) -- The Netherlands, Taiwan and Japan each won their openers at the World Baseball Classic Saturday.

Four pitchers combined on a four-hit shutout to lead the Netherlands past Korea 5-0 at Taichung, Taiwan.

Diegomar Markwell (1-0) earned the win with four solid innings, yielding two hits with a walk and two strikeouts.

Orlando Yntema, Leon Boyd and Mark Pawelek combined to complete the shutout while Roger Bernadina drove in two runs for the Dutch team.

Chien-Ming Wang, meanwhile, fired six shutout innings for Taiwan in a 4-1 win over Australia in Taichung.

Cheng-Min Peng bashed a homer while Wang (1-0) allowed just four hits and struck two en route to the victory.

Also Saturday, two-time champion Japan rallied for three runs in the eighth inning to register a come-from-behind 5-3 win over qualifier Brazil at Fukuoka, Japan.

Tadashi Settsu (1-0) earned the win while Shinnosuke Abe drove in the go-ahead run in the victory.