Soto homers after refusing to leave game as Dominican Republic routs Netherlands at World Baseball Classic

Albert Pujols, managing the Dominican Republic at the World Baseball Classic, is trying to limit the playing time of his star players. During a lopsided game against the Netherlands, he moved to take Juan Soto out in the bottom of the seventh inning. Soto asked to stay and answered with a home run that sealed a 12-1 victory at loanDepot Park in Miami.

"Pujols was going to take me out and I told him no. We're going to finish this here," Soto said. Pujols, who ranks fourth on the major leagues' career home run list, approved of the attitude. "That is the focus. That is how I prepared in my career," he said.

The 2013 champions won by knockout or lopsided margin for the first time in their sixth Classic appearance. Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Junior Caminero and Austin Wells also homered. Fernando Tatis Jr. and Ketel Marte drew three walks apiece as the Dominicans improved to 2-0 and remained unbeaten in Pool D. Starter Luis Severino allowed one run and three hits over four innings, striking out five.

The Dominican Republic scored six runs in the fifth inning. Caminero hit a three-run homer, his second of the tournament, with an exit velocity of 115.8 mph, and Wells added a two-run shot. Marte's sacrifice fly made it 10-1. Pujols said the margin matters less than the result. "It doesn't matter if you win by one run or by knockout, the most important thing is to win the game," he said, crediting the players for being highly motivated.

The Dominicans scored early against losing pitcher Arij Fransen. Guerrero's RBI single and a throwing error by shortstop Xander Bogaerts, which let Marte score from third, made it 2-0 in the first. Didi Gregorius cut the deficit with a solo homer in the second for the Netherlands (1-2), before Guerrero's two-run blast in the third made it 4-1. The Dominican Republic has outscored its opponents 24-4 in two games in Miami, with seven homers, and shares first place in the pool with Venezuela (2-0).

The game was the third of the tournament not to go nine innings. Japan beat Taiwan 13-0 earlier, then routed the Czech Republic 14-0 in Pool C.

Elsewhere on Sunday, Mexico beat Brazil 16-0 in six innings in Houston under the tournament's mercy rule, which ends a game when a team leads by 15 or more runs after five innings. Alejandro Kirk, Jarren Duran, Alek Thomas and Julián Ornelas homered. Mexico, which beat Great Britain 8-2 on Friday, plays the United States (2-0) on Monday night. Brazil (0-3) was eliminated, as was Great Britain, which Brazil faces on Monday.

In Pool D, Israel beat Nicaragua 5-0 behind three hits from Noah Mendlinger and 4 1/3 innings from starter Dean Kremer. Nicaragua fell to 0-3 and became the first team in the group eliminated. In Pool A, Panama beat Canada 4-3 in a rain-delayed game in San Juan for its first win, with a two-run pinch-hit single from Rubén Tejada in the sixth. Cuba beat Colombia 7-4 to go 2-0 and will face host Puerto Rico on Monday. Colombia was eliminated.

Defending champion Japan became the first nation to clinch a quarterfinal berth. It beat Australia 4-3 in Tokyo on a two-run homer by Masataka Yoshida in the seventh, after South Korea lost 5-4 to Taiwan in 10 innings. Japan will travel to Miami for a quarterfinal on March 14. In Pool B, Italy beat Great Britain 7-4 to improve to 2-0. South Korea must beat Australia on Monday to stay alive.