Vinnie Pasquantino had the World Baseball Classic's first three-homer game, leading Italy over Mexico 9-1 on Wednesday night to win Pool B and advance the United States to the quarterfinals as group's second-place team.
Italy's victory ended a day of uncertainty for the Americans, who needed help to reach the quarterfinals after losing to Italy 8-6 on Tuesday night.
Pasquantino, who opened the tournament 0 for 12, homered leading off the second, sixth
and eighth innings to propel Italy to the quarterfinals for a third time and the second tournament in a row. Jon Berti also homered for Italy to help build a big lead early.
The Italians will face Puerto Rico in the quarterfinals in Houston on Saturday, a day after the U.S. plays Canada, which advanced past the first round for the first time.
Mexico's loss eliminated it from qualifying for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, a disappointment for a team that finished third in the 2023 WBC, losing to eventual champion Japan in the semifinals.
Italy went 4-0 in pool play after no other European team had won more than two WBC games in a row.
Pasquantino celebrated with an espresso shot from the dugout machine after each homer, Italy’s fitting celebration after home runs.
He tried to bunt on his first pitch, then homered to the first row of the right-field seats off Javier Assad in the second inning. Berti’s shot to to left doubled the lead in the fourth.
Dante Nori's run-scoring sacrifice bunt extended the lead in a three-run fifth capped by Jakob Marsee’s two-run single for a 5-0 lead.
Pasquantino homered starting the sixth against Daniel Duarte and again off Robert Garcia in the eighth.
Winner Aaron Nola allowed four hits and struck out five in five scoreless innings. Assad took the loss, permitting four runs and four hits in 4 1/3 innings.
Mexico loaded the bases with no outs in the seventh but managed just one run on a groundout by Alek Thomas.
Canada advanced past the first round of the World Baseball Classic for the first time, beating Cuba 7-2 Wednesday in a winner-take-all game at San Juan, Puerto Rico, behind Abraham Toro's homer and Otto Lopez's two-run single.
Brothers Bo Naylor and Josh Naylor drove in runs, Owen Caissie had two RBIs and reliever James Paxton struck out six over 2 2/3 scoreless innings for Canada (3-1), which eliminated the Cubans (2-2) and won Group A over Puerto Rico (3-1). Cuba was knocked out in the first round for the first time.
Canada and Puerto Rico will play quarterfinals in Houston this weekend.
Cuba finished with three errors, and left fielder Ariel Martinez allowed Toro’s catchable fly starting the seventh to fall for a double. The Canadians broke open the game with a three-run sixth inning that included a dropped popup, a foul pop that fell, a wild pickoff throw and a catcher's interference call on Andrys Perez, whose passed ball led to Canada's first run.
Later Wednesday, Mexico and Italy were to play at Houston in a Group B game that will determine whether the U.S. advances.
Cuba escaped a bases-loaded jam in the first when Matt Davidson hit an inning-ending popout off loser Livan Moinelo, but Canada went ahead in the third on Caissie's sacrifice fly. Toro homered in the fifth on a splitter from Yariel Rodríguez, a 420-foot drive to right.
Cuba scored in the bottom half on Yoelkis Guibert's run-scoring groundout off winner Cal Quantrill, who allowed an unearned run and two hits over five innings.
Canada opened a 3-1 lead in the sixth on Bo Naylor's RBI double.
Martinez drove in a run in the bottom half with his third hit and Josh Naylor had an RBI single in the seventh on a soft fly to left that popped up of the glove of Martinez, who tried for a sliding catch.
Cuba went 1 for 7 with runners in scoring position. Adam Macko escaped a bases-loaded jam in the sixth when Yiddi Cappe swung over a curveball and James Paxton struck out Moncada in the seventh to leave runners at the corners.
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