South Korea suffered their second consecutive loss at the World Baseball Classic(WBC) as they succumbed to favorites Japan 13-4 in Tokyo on Friday.

Entering the duel at the Tokyo Dome after an 8-7 loss to Australia, the Koreans started well against the two-time winner, who have never finished without reaching the semifinals in all previous WBC editions.

With starting pitcher Kim Kwang-hyun doing well in the first two innings by striking out five of the first six hitters, Korea went ahead first in the top of the third when Kang Baek-ho smacked a double off pitcher Yu Darvish. Yang Eui-ji connected with a two-run homer, sending the ball deep toward left centerfield.

Kim Ha-seong advanced to second on a grounder thanks to a throwing error by third baseman Munetaka Murakami before scoring on a double by Lee Jung-hoo.

Korea nearly extended the lead to five when Kim Hyun-soo sent the ball deep toward the wall with Park Byung-ho already on first base on a hit-by-pitch, but Masataka Yoshida made an impressive catch allowing no more runs from Korea.

Japan quickly responded in the bottom of the inning with the first two at-bats, Sosuke Genda and Yuhei Nakamura, walking. Outfielder Lars Nootbaar hit a one-run single off Kim Kwang-hyun, bringing Genda home before Nakamura scored another on a double by Kensuke Kondoh.

With the bases loaded, Yoshida hit a two-run single off relief pitcher Won Tae-in, giving Japan a 4-3 lead before Won retired the next two hitters.

Japan extended the lead in the bottom of the fifth with a single-run homer by Kondoh and added another run on a sacrifice fly which brought home Shohei Ohtani, who had hit a double off reliever Gwak Been.

Park Kun-woo reduced the gap for Korea with a one-run homer in the top of the sixth, but that was as far as Korea could go with Japan scoring five runs in the bottom of the inning before adding two runs in the seventh.

Dashing its first two chances for a win, Korea now needs to win its two remaining games and then hope the other Pool B games go their way to advance to the quarterfinals.

Korea will next play the Czech Republic on Sunday at noon before its final group game against China slated for 7 p.m. Monday, both at the Tokyo Dome.

Australia will play China at noon on Saturday, Japan on Sunday evening and the Czech Republic on Monday. 

The Czech Republic, comprising amateur players that stunned China 8-5 earlier on Friday, will go against Japan on Saturday before playing Korea and Australia.