Aaron Judge hit a two-run homer and Roman Anthony added a three-run blast in a big third inning to lead the United States to a 5-3 win over Mexico in the World Baseball Classic at Houston's Daikin Park on Monday night.
The U.S. improved to 3-0 and will meet Italy (2-0) on Tuesday night, seeking to secure a spot in the quarterfinals in Houston this weekend.
Jarren Duran homered twice for Mexico (2-1), which will face Italy Wednesday night in the last
game of Group B play.
The game was played in front of a sellout crowd of 41,628 that was decidedly pro-Mexico.
Reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Paul Skenes allowed one hit and struck out seven in four innings as the U.S. avenged an 11-5 loss to Mexico in the 2023 WBC.
The U.S. led by three entering the eighth inning before Duran took Matthew Boyd deep for his second homer. Boyd then hit Randy Arozarena on the arm with a pitch before striking out Jonathan Aranda.
Griffin Jax took over and induced a double-play grounder from Alejandro Kirk to end the inning.
Bryce Harper singled on a ball that hit reliever Jesus Cruz on the leg with no outs in the third inning. Judge followed with his drive to right field to put the Americans up 2-0 and give him two home runs in the tournament.
Kyle Schwarber singled and Cal Raleigh was hit by a pitch with one out before Anthony’s homer to right-center pushed the lead to 5-0.
Duran homered for a second straight game with his solo shot off Boyd that cut the lead to 5-1 with one out in the sixth. There were two on and two outs when Joey Meneses singled in a run to make it 5-2.
Fernando Tatis hit a grand slam and drove in six runs, and the Dominican Republic clinched a spot in the World Baseball Classic quarterfinals with a 10-1 win over Israel in Miami.
Tatis homered in the second inning on a 78.5 mph changeup off loser Ryan Prager, standing at home plate and admiring his no-doubt drive over the left-field wall, then added a two-run single in the seventh. Geraldo Perdomo had put the Dominicans ahead with a bases-loaded walk.
Tatis’ six RBIs tied Adrian González in 2009 for second-most in a WBC game, one behind Ken Griffey Jr.’s record in 2006.
The Dominicans (3-0) top Group D along with Venezuela (3-0), which also clinched a quarterfinal berth due to the Dominicans' win. Venezuela later beat Nicaragua 4-0.
The winner of Wednesday's Venezuela-Dominican Republic game will play South Korea in a quarterfinal in Miami on Friday, The loser will face Shohei Ohtani and Japan at Miami on Saturday.
Oneil Cruz added a solo homer in the fourth off Zack Weiss, a 115.9 mph drive.
Spencer Horwitz drove in Israel’s run with a fourth-inning homer against winner Bryan Bello. That was the only hit allowed in five innings by Bello, who struck out seven and walked none.
Horwitz and Noah Mendlinger, the top two hitters in the order for Israel (1-2), went a combined 2 for 7, while the rest of the order went 0 for 22.
Reynaldo Rodriguez hit a two-run single in a four-run sixth inning for already-eliminated Colombia (1-3), which won the Group A game at San Juan, Puerto Rico, and ensured Panama (1-3) cannot advance from the group.
Panama's Jonathan Araúz exchanged shouts and pushes with manager José Mayorga when the pinch hitter returned to the dugout after grounding out leading off the ninth. Araúz had not run hard out of the batter's box.
Jordan Diaz hit a go-ahead sacrifice fly against Miguel Gomez in the sixth and Daniel Vellojin added an RBI single.
José Caballero homered off Rio Gomez in the bottom half, and Jose Ramos and Christian Bethancourt had RBI singles that cut the deficit to one run in the eighth.
Ruben Tejada singled with one out in the ninth off Pedro Garcia, who then struck out Enrique Bradfield Jr. and retired Caballero on a flyout for his first save.
Winner Austin Bergner pitched a scoreless fifth inning. Jorge Garcia was the loser.
South Korea advanced to the quarterfinals, moving past the first round for the first time since 2009 by beating Australia at the Tokyo Dome behind four RBIs from Bo Gyeong Moon, who leads the tournament with 11.
The South Koreans (2-2) finished second in Group C behind Japan and Shohei Ohtani, and they will next play on Friday. South Korea, Australia and Taiwan all had identical records, and South Korea needed to beat Australia by five runs or more to advance based on a tiebreaker of fewest runs allowed divided by defensive outs.
Australia would have advanced with a win or a loss by four runs or fewer.
Hyun Min Ahn hit a decisive sacrifice fly in the ninth that scored Hae-Min Park standing up. Do Yeong Kim walked against Jack O’Loughlin leading off and Park, a pinch runner, reached third when Jung Hoo Lee's grounder off O’Loughlin's glove went to shortstop Jarryd Dale, whose throw to second bounced into short right field for an error.
With Australia needing one run to advance, Chris Burke walked with one out in the bottom half and Lee robbed Rixon Wingrove of an extra-base hit with a sliding, backhand catch in the right-center gap. Pinch-hitter Logan Wade followed with a game-ending popout to Moon, and the first baseman threw his glove high in celebration.
Winner Ju Young Son pitched a scoreless first. Loser Lachlan Wells allowed two runs, two hits and two walks in 1 2/3 innings.
Moon had three hits, including a second-inning homer off Wells, and is batting .538 (7 for 13). Lee and Moon had RBI doubles in the third, and Moon added a run-scoring single for a 5-0 lead in the fifth.
Robbie Glendinning homered in the bottom half but Do Yeong Kim's RBI single boosted the lead to 6-1 in the sixth. Top prospect Travis Bazzana hit a run-scoring single in the eighth.
Japan (3-0) closes group play on Tuesday against the Czech Republic (0-3).
Ian Lewis Jr. homered with two RBIs and Jazz Chisholm Jr. added two hits with three RBIs to lead Britain (1-3) in a one-hitter at Houston's Daikin Park that ended the tournament for a pair of teams that were eliminated from advancing from Group B on Sunday.
Brazil (0-4) was outscored 47-6 and outhit 46-14.
Gabriel Carmo hit a go-ahead double in the fifth for Brazil, which lost to Mexico 16-0 a day earlier. Lewis homered off Tiago Da Silva on the first pitch of the bottom half, Harry Ford hit an RBI single and Chisholm added a run-scoring groundout.
Lewis had an RBI groundout in the sixth, Matt Koperniak hit a run-scoring single in the seventh off 17-year-old Joseph Contreras — a son of former major league pitcher José Contreras — and Chisholm added a two-run single in the eighth.
Ronald Acuña Jr. homered and drove in two runs as Venezuela remained unbeaten in Group D with a 4-0 victory over Nicaragua at Miami.
Starter Yoendrys Gómez struck out three in two innings for the win and was followed by six relievers.
Venezuela (3-0) and the Dominican Republic (3-0) will play to determine the pool winner Wednesday night. Both teams have advanced to the quarterfinals.
Nicaragua finished 0-4 and remains winless in eight tournament games.
Acuña led off with a walk, stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error by Nicaragua catcher Ronald Rivera. Jackson Chourio drove Acuña home with a sacrifice fly.
In the third, Acuña’s solo blast made it 2-0. Acuña drove a slider from Danilo Bermudez over the wall in right-center.
That was the only hit allowed by Bermudez, who gave up two runs in four innings.
Duque Hebbert relieved in the fifth and allowed Acuña’s RBI single after William Contreras reached on an error and Gleyber Torres walked.
Wilyer Abreu had a sacrifice fly in the sixth to score Luis Arraez.
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