Day 5 of the 2026 World Baseball Classic started with a near-cycle and a whole lot of math. Korea’s Bo Gyeong Moon rocketed a 430-foot homer to open the scoring gates at the Tokyo Dome and then added an RBI double and an RBI single to help his team establish a 5-0 lead over Australia in a must-win game in Pool C action on Monday.

Korea maintained a critical five-run advantage in what turned into a 7-2 victory that booked its ticket to the event’s quarterfinals for the first time since 2009.

Three teams in Pool C finished with a 2-2 record — Korea, Australia and Chinese Taipei — but because of a run-quotient tiebreaker, Korea advanced. Australia could have made it out of pool play with a win or a loss by four runs or fewer.

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Korea joins a Shohei Ohtani-led Japan squad as the two teams to make it out of Pool C. Undefeated Japan will wrap up pool play on Tuesday against Czechia, which has yet to win a game in this year’s WBC.

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United States 5, Mexico 3

USA opened up Monday’s World Baseball Classic game with a 5-run third and appeared on track for a blowout against Mexico. It ended up sweating out a 5-3 win after Mexico closed the gap against USA’s bullpen.

U.S. ace and Pittsburgh Pirates Cy Young winner Paul Skenes delivered a gem on the mound in an abbreviated start, allowing one hit and one walk while striking out seven in four masterful innings as the United States took the early lead.

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But Jarren Duran hit a pair of home runs late that brought Mexico back within striking distance.

But USA’s bullpen ultimately got the job done following his exit. Garrett Whitlock allowed a leadoff hit to Joey Meneses in the top of the ninth and faced the tying run for the rest of the inning. But he didn’t allow another baserunner as USA held on for the win.

USA now has one game remaining in pool play against Italy. The 3-0 start hasn’t yet clinched a spot in the knockout round. USA, Italy and Mexico could all finish tied at 3-1 in pool play in a format where two teams out of five advance out of each pool.

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But the win puts USA in control of Pool B with one game remaining before the knockout round.

Puerto Rico 4, Cuba 1

Puerto Rico is off to the quarterfinals. After a dominant three-run win over Cuba, the Puerto Ricans have now taken the lead in Group A and will head to Houston regardless of how the rest of the group stage plays out.

Martín Maldonado got the scoring started early with a three-run double to the corner of the outfield in the second inning, which was enough to push them to the win and a perfect 3-0 record so far in group play.

With the loss, Cuba will now have to beat Canada on Wednesday to earn a trip to the quarterfinals out of Group A.

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Venezuela 4, Nicaragua 0

Venezuela moved to 3-0 in this tournament, and Nicaragua fell to 0-4 in Monday’s contest dominated by one man: Ronald Acuña Jr. He stole a base, scored on a sacrifice fly, hit a solo home run and had an RBI single as Venezuela won 4-0.

He also got thrown out at third, but nobody’s perfect.

Venezuela has one more game in pool play, Wednesday against the Dominican Republic to decide the winner of Pool D. Nicaragua’s WBC run is over.

Korea 7, Australia 2

Moon came into the day tied with Venezuela’s Luis Arráez for the most RBI (seven) in this year’s WBC. He tacked on four more in an emotional win over Australia.

But Korea also got a lift from Jung Hoo Lee, both offensively and defensively. Lee knocked in a run by doubling to center in the third inning. Then, in the ninth, he played a big role in Korea preserving its five-run lead, making a sliding grab in right-center field with one out and one man on base.

If you’re wondering about that complex run-quotient tiebreaker that comes into play when three or more teams have the same record in pool play, here’s how FS1 broke it down on the broadcast, noting that, in this case, the three teams that are tied are “ranked by lowest quotient of fewest runs allowed divided by number of defensive outs.”

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Korea defeated Czechia 11-4 in its first WBC game this year before falling to Japan 8-6 and then to Chinese Taipei 5-4. A bounce-back, five-run win got the team over the pool-play hump and into the quarterfinals.

Dominican Republic 10, Israel 1

Have yourself a game, Fernando Tatis Jr. In a resounding win, Team DR punched its ticket to the quarterfinals, and one of its stars made a major statement with the country’s first grand slam in Classic history.

Tatis hit his grand slam in the second inning to give the DR an early lead, and Oneil Cruz added on in the fourth with a solo home run. Tatis added even more insurance with another RBI in the seventh.

Israel’s only hit of the day was a solo home run by Spencer Horowitz, as DR starter Brayan Bello struck out seven hitters over five innings.

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The Dominican Republic improved to 3-0, and its win also secured Venezuela a spot in the quarterfinals, thanks to tiebreakers over Israel and the Netherlands.

Colombia 4, Panama 3

It was a battle at the bottom of Pool A between Colombia, which picked up its first win Monday, and Panama. Colombia broke out in the sixth inning, with RBI from Jordan Diaz, Reynaldo Rodriguez and Daniel Vellojin.

Panama answered in the bottom of the inning, with a solo homer from José Caballero and added a couple more runs in the final frames, but it wasn’t enough to overcome Colombia.

Both teams finished pool play with 1-3 records.

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Great Britain 8, Brazil 1

While both Great Britain and Brazil had already been eliminated from quarterfinal contention before Monday’s game, Team GB ended its WBC with an exclamation point.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. starred for Great Britain, finishing with two hits and three RBI on the day. Matt Koperniak and Ian Lewis Jr. also added two RBI apiece. Brazil’s lone run came on a Gabriel Carmo double in the fifth inning.

The win ensured Great Britain a spot in the next World Baseball Classic.