The United States leaned on a three-run third inning Monday night, powered by home runs from Aaron Judge and Roman Anthony, to beat Mexico 5-3 at Daikin Park in Houston and improve to 3-0 in World Baseball Classic Group B play.
Judge launched a two-run shot to right field off reliever Jesus Cruz, scoring Bryce Harper who had singled earlier in the inning. After Kyle Schwarber singled and Cal Raleigh was hit by a pitch, Anthony crushed a three-run homer to right-center, giving the U.S. a 5-0 lead. The sellout crowd of 41,628 heavily favored Mexico.
Reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Paul Skenes tossed four scoreless innings, allowing one hit and striking out seven. The U.S. victory was its first over Mexico in the WBC since 2006, avenging an 11-5 loss in 2023.
Mexico’s Jarren Duran homered twice, including a solo shot off Matthew Boyd in the sixth that cut the lead to 5-1. Two batters later, Joey Meneses singled in a run to make it 5-2. Duran struck again in the eighth, taking Boyd deep again, but reliever Griffin Jax induced a double-play grounder from Alejandro Kirk to escape the inning.
The U.S. faces Italy (2-0) on Tuesday night, needing a win to secure a quarterfinal spot. Mexico (2-1) meets Italy on Wednesday in the Group B finale.
