Kyle Schwarber hit a two-run homer and Gunnar Henderson had four hits and two RBIs as the United States rolled to a 9-1 victory over Britain on Saturday night at the World Baseball Classic.
Team USA improved to 2-0 in Pool B at Houston, while Britain dropped to 0-2.
Nate Eaton homered on Tarik Skubal’s first pitch to give Britain a quick lead it held until the fifth inning. But his teammates couldn't muster anything else at the plate.
U.S. hitters had
managed just one single when Ernie Clement reached on an error by third baseman Ivan Johnson to start the fifth. Pete Crow-Armstrong doubled before Clement scored on a wild pitch by Andre Scrubb to tie it at 1.
Schwarber followed with a 427-foot drive that landed near the back of the second deck in right field to put the United States on top 3-1.
There were two outs in the inning when Henderson's two-run single made it 5-1.
Aaron Judge, who homered in Friday night’s win over Brazil, knocked out a panel in the metal scoreboard with a 109.6 mph RBI single in a three-run sixth that pushed it to 8-1.
Skubal allowed two hits with five strikeouts in three innings. It's scheduled to be the only start of the tournament for the two-time defending AL Cy Young Award winner, who will return to spring training with the Detroit Tigers on Sunday.
Britain plays Italy on Sunday. The Americans are off until reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Paul Skenes pitches Monday night against Mexico.
Shohei Ohtani homered for the second consecutive day, Seiya Suzuki went deep twice and defending champion Japan beat South Korea 8-6 in Tokyo to improve to 2-0 in Pool C.
Suzuki drove in four runs and Masataka Yoshida homered and had three RBIs for the Samurai Warriors, who fell behind 3-0 in the first inning.
A day after hitting a grand slam in a 13-0 win over Taiwan, Ohtani hit a tying home run on a hanging curve from Young Pyo Ko in the third.
Suzuki hit a two-run homer in the second. Two batters after Ohtani's drive, Suzuki chased Ko by homering for a 4-3 lead. Yoshida homered on reliever Byeong Hyeon Jo's second pitch.
Hyeseong Kim's two-run homer against Hiromi Ito tied the score in the fourth for South Korea (1-1).
Suzuki put Japan ahead for good at 6-5 when he drew a bases-loaded walk from Young Kyu Kim in a three-run seventh that included Yoshida's two-run single.
Ju Won Kim trimmed South Korea's deficit with an RBI single off Yuki Matsumoto in the eighth before Hyeseong Kim stranded the bases loaded when he struck out against Yuki Matsumoto.
Winning pitcher Atsuki Taneichi struck out the side in the seventh, and Taisei Ota got three straight outs on seven pitches for the save.
Japan and Australia are 2-0 in Group C and meet Sunday as the favorites to advance to the quarterfinals.
New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye was at the game, a day after Timothée Chalamet and pop singer Bad Bunny attended.
Ozzie Albies hit a game-winning three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning to lead the Netherlands over Nicaragua.
The Netherlands began its two-out rally on Ceddanne Rafaela’s single against reliever Angel Obando. Xander Bogaerts doubled, advancing Rafaela to third before Albies hit Obando’s first pitch over the wall in right.
The Netherlands improved to 1-1 in Group D. Nicaragua dropped to 0-2.
Jeter Downs hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the eighth to put Nicaragua ahead 3-1. He drove a sinker from Netherlands reliever Lars Huijer over the wall in left-center. Huijer threw two innings of relief for the win.
The Netherlands stranded 14 runners and were 0 for 6 with runners in scoring position before Albies’ homer.
Rafaela, Bogaerts and Druw Jones all had two hits for the Netherlands.
Nicaragua starter Erasmo Ramírez plunked Albies with the bases loaded in the third, giving the Netherlands a 1-0 lead. Ramirez allowed one run and five hits over five innings while Netherlands starter Jaitoine Kelly threw two scoreless innings.
Darell Hernaiz homered off Severino González to cap a two-run 10th inning as Puerto Rico twice rallied late at San Juan and improved to 2-0 in Group A.
Willi Castro tied the score at 2 on a four-pitch, bases-loaded walk against Alberto Baldonado with two outs in the ninth.
José Caballero hit a go-ahead single off winner Jose Espada in the top of the 10th, then was thrown out at the plate by right fielder Carlos Cortes for the final out of the inning when he tried to score on Leonardo Bernal’s single.
Puerto Rico tied the score at 3 in the bottom half when Cortes grounded into a run-scoring double play. Hernaiz drove a fastball to left, dropping Panama to 0-2.
Panama had gone ahead 2-0 in the fifth on RBI doubles by Christian Bethancourt and Luis Castillo.
Nolan Arenado trimmed the lead with a bases-loaded, sixth-inning sacrifice fly against Javy Guerra. After playing for the U.S. in 2017 and 2023, Arenado switched this time to Puerto Rico — where his mother is from.
Luis Arraez homered twice, doubled twice and drove in five runs as Venezuela beat Israel 11-3 in Miami.
Arraez became the first player with a pair of multihomer games in his WBC career.
Eugenio Suárez also went deep and Ezequiel Tovar had three hits for Venezuela, which improved to 2-0 in Pool D. It was Israel’s first game of the tournament.
Venezuela starter Enmanuel De Jesus struck out eight in five innings of one-run ball.
Suárez’s two-run homer chased Israel starter Ben Simon and capped a four-run first. Arraez hit an RBI double and scored on Salvador Perez’s single.
De Jesus retired his first 14 batters until Garrett Stubbs tripled with two outs in the fifth. Matt Mervis followed with an RBI infield single to put Israel on the board.
Venezuela regained its four-run lead in the fifth when Arraez hit a solo homer off reliever Jordan Geber.
Israel narrowed the deficit again in the sixth on RJ Schreck’s solo homer against reliever Ricardo Sánchez before Venezuela broke it open with five runs in the bottom half. Maikel García hit a two-run single and Arraez followed with a three-run homer that made it 10-2.
Arraez, a three-time batting champion, has five hits and seven RBIs over the first two games.
Harrison Bader hit a solo homer for Israel in the ninth.
Stuart Fairchild, whose mother is from Taiwan, hit a second-inning grand slam off Jan Novak for a quick six-run lead.
Taiwan set a WBC record with seven steals and improved to 1-2 in a game cut to seven innings by a mercy rule. The slam was the third of the tournament, one shy of the WBC record.
The Czechs dropped to 0-3 in their second WBC and are 1-6 in two tournaments, with a win over China in 2023.
Taiwan went ahead in the first on a throwing error by catcher Martin Cervenka on a double steal, and an RBI single by Yu Chang, who had three hits and four RBIs.
Winning pitcher Chen Zhong-Ao Zhuang struck out four in 2 2/3 innings. Novak took the loss, allowing six runs, five hits and three walks in 2 2/3 innings.
A run-saving defensive play by brothers Josh and Bo Naylor boosted Canada in the first inning at San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Owen Cassie hit a go-ahead, two-run homer in the second off emergency starter Austin Bergner after Julio Teheran was scratched.
A 35-year-old right-hander who last pitched in the major leagues in 2024, Teheran felt right shoulder impingement while warming up.
Canada won its opener while Colombia dropped to 0-2 in Group A.
Michael Arroyo led off the game with a single against Michael Soroka, stole second and went to third on a wild pitch. Reynaldo Rodriguez grounded to first baseman Josh Naylor, who threw to brother Bo at the plate for the tag.
That was one of four Colombia outs on the bases. Rodriguez and Jesus Marriaga were caught stealing by Bo Naylor, and Daniel Vellojin was thrown out trying to reach second on a dropped flyball in the ninth inning.
Arroyo cut Colombia’s deficit with an RBI single in the third off Soroka, who allowed four hits over three innings for the win. Abraham Toro restored a two-run lead with a bases-loaded walk in the bottom half from Emerson Martinez.
Josh Naylor had a run-scoring single in the seventh that drove in Denzel Clarke, a cousin, after Marriaga dropped Clarke’s fly to right for an error.
Harold Ramírez had an RBI double in the eighth. With two on and two outs, Gio Urshela swung and missed at three straight sliders from Eric Cerantola.
Toro had an RBI triple in a four-run bottom half and scored on Bo Naylor’s single.
Phillippe Aumont, who last pitched in the major leagues in 2015, struck out Tito Polo for the final out.
Dante Nori hit two home runs and Dominic Canzone homered with four RBIs to help Italy to an 8-0 win over Brazil in Pool B play at Houston.
The game was scoreless until the sixth inning when Zach Dezenzo hit an RBI single with one out to put Italy on top. Jac Caglianone followed with a two-out double that scored another run, but Dezenzo was tagged out at home on the play to end the inning.
Nori's first home run came with one out in the seventh to make it 3-0. There was one on with two outs when Canzone’s homer to right-center extended the lead to 6-0.
There was one out in the eighth when Nori went deep again on a solo shot to right-center that made it 7-0. Canzone had an RBI double with two outs to leave Italy up 8-0.
Brazil managed just four singles to fall to 0-5 all-time in the tournament after losing to Japan, Cuba and China in 2013 in its only other WBC appearance. The team lost to the United States 15-5 in its WBC opener on Friday night.
Brazil starter Enzo Sawayama allowed two hits in four scoreless innings and Italy starter Sam Aldegheri yielded one hit and struck out eight in 4 2/3 scoreless innings.
Italy plays Britain on Sunday, and Brazil faces Mexico on Sunday night.
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