World Baseball Classic 2017: Scores and Reaction from Monday Pool Play Results

The 2017 World Baseball Classic officially got underway Monday morning in South Korea.

Israel opened the fourth Classic against South Korea before playing Chinese Taipei later the same day. Those were the only two games on the early slate in Pool A. Pool B begins play Tuesday. Pools C and D, the former of which includes the United States, do not begin playing until Thursday.

The 16-team tournament will commence at Dodger Stadium in two weeks' time, with the championship game being played March 22. The Dominican Republic is the defending champion, while two-time champion Japan will attempt to get back in the mix after falling to third in 2013.

Here's a look at how everything played out in the first two games.

Pool A Results

Israel 2, South Korea 1

The first game of the WBC proved to be an extra-innings thriller, as Scott Burcham drove in a run in the top half of the 10th inning to give Israel a 2-1 win over South Korea.

Burcham reached base with two outs and a 1-2 count by hitting an infield single up the middle.

Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com provided his thoughts:

Israel loaded the bases in the eighth, only for Tyler Krieger to hit into a force out and Burcham to get called out on strikes. Krieger had drawn a bases-loaded walk in the second inning to give Israel its first run.

The two sides went into extras tied at one run apiece. Seung Hwan Oh fanned Burcham to work his way out of the bases-loaded jam in the eighth and struck out three batters in 1.1 innings of work. South Korea used eight pitchers total, seven coming after starter Won-Jun Chang gave up one run on two hits in four innings of work.

Jason Marquis started for Israel, throwing three scoreless innings. The former MLB starter, who last played for the Cincinnati Reds in 2015, struck out three and allowed two hits on 45 pitches.

WBC rules prevent pitchers from throwing more than 65 pitches in first-round matchups. The limits go up with each subsequent round.

Israel used five pitchers after Marquis, with Josh Zeid getting the win. Zeid struck out four over three innings of scoreless work. Chang-Yong Lim got the loss for South Korea.

Burcham and Sam Fuld each finished with two hits for Israel, while Geon-chang Seo, Ah-seop Son and Byung-hun Min each had multihit games for the home country.

Israel 15, Chinese Taipei 7

Israel continued its impressive Monday in the second game, albeit in much less dramatic fashion. It wasted little time jumping all over Chinese Taipei starter Chun-Lin Kuo and rode the momentum and 20 base hits to the commanding 15-7 victory.

Ike Davis and Krieger each notched two-RBI singles in the opening frame, as Israel pushed across four early runs. Ryan Lavarnway's two-run homer in the third made it 6-0, which was more than enough for starter Corey Baker.

MLB Network shared Davis' hit:

Baker pitched 4.2 innings of shutout baseball, allowing just three hits and striking out three. His team's offense overshadowed his performance, but he set the tone for an Israel pitching staff that allowed runs in only the sixth and ninth innings.

It looked as if Chinese Taipei would make it a game in the sixth when it scored three runs off Chih-Sheng Lin's two-RBI double and Yi-Chuan Lin's sacrifice fly, as MLB Network captured:

However, Israel erased any doubt with five runs in the seventh, one run in the eighth and three runs in the ninth. Nate Freiman drilled a three-run homer in that final inning, which gave the victors some breathing room before Chinese Taipei made the final score closer than the game actually was with four runs in the bottom of the ninth.

Troy Neiman allowed three earned runs in that final frame after R.C. Orlan, Tyler Herron, Dylan Axelrod and Danny Burawa combined to give up a mere one earned and three total runs following Baker's outing.