Determined to atone for an embarrassing eighth place finish at the inaugural Classic in 2006, the United States improved to 2-0 to top Pool C but were made to work for their win by the scrappy Venezuelans, who had led 3-2 until the sixth inning.
In Mexico City, Cuba slammed a WBC record six home runs to open Pool B play with an 8-1 thrashing of South Africa, while in San Juan, the Dominican Republic rebounded from a shock defeat to the Netherlands in their Pool D opener to throttle Panama 9-0.
Venezuela's sixth-inning collapse began with Victor Zambrano loading the bases then walking Mark DeRosa to bring across Youkilis with the tying run.
Chris Iannetta, the next man to the plate, put the United States in front with a three-run double off the wall, which was followed by a two-run double from Dustin Pedroia.
Youkilis then delivered the knockout punch, the Boston Red Sox first baseman taking Yoel Hernandez, Venezuela's third pitcher of the inning, over the wall in center for a 10-3 lead.
Venezuela chipped two runs off the U.S. lead in the bottom of the sixth but Adam Dunn answered back in the top the seventh with a leadoff homer, his second of the tournament.
Display of Power
The United States piled on three more runs in the eighth and Ryan Braun added a solo homer in the ninth to complete the rout.
It was another impressive display of power by the Americans, who slammed three home runs for the second straight game while ripping seven Venezuelan pitchers for 16 hits.
Venezuela now await the winner between Canada and Italy on Monday to set up a showdown for the second ticket out of the first round.
Frederich Cepeda homered twice to lead Cuba to their win over South Africa.
"It (the win) is really important psychologically," said Cepeda, who homered in his first two at bats. "To be able to stay on top, start on top, because it shows that the Cuban team is doing excellent."
In Tokyo, South Korea sailed through to the second round crushing China 14-0 in a lopsided contest ended after seven innings by the tournament "mercy rule."
The South Koreans will now face fierce rivals Japan on Monday in a game that will decide top spot in Pool A.
