March 9, 2026; Houston, Texas, USA; American outfielder Roman Anthony (3) hit a home run in the third inning of the game against Mexico held at Daikin Park. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images Aaron Judge and Roman Anthony hit five-run home runs in the third inning for Team USA, which advanced to the quarterfinals of the World Baseball Classic with a 5-3 win over Mexico in Group B action Monday night in Houston.
Team USA won 3-0 and will advance to the quarterfinals later this week.
Jarren Duran hit two home runs for Mexico, which fell behind 2-1 and will be fighting for a spot in the quarterfinals when it faces Italy, 2-0, in the Group B final on Wednesday.
Team USA left the bases loaded in the first inning, Anthony was thrown out in the second while attempting a double off Brice Turang and broke through in the third against Jesus Cruz.
Bryce Harper led off by drilling a single off Cruz’s wrist. After a few warm-up pitches, Cruz stayed in the game and gave up Judge’s home run to make it 2-1.
Kyle Schwarber singled, Cruz hit Cal Raleigh with one out, and then Anthony hit a 417-foot home run to right-center.
Duran hit a one-out home run off Matthew Boyd in the sixth inning. In the bottom of the inning, Joey Meneses’ pinch-hit RBI — Mexico’s third straight two-out hit — pulled the visitors within 5-2.
Duran homered in the top of the eighth inning, and then Randy Arozarena was hit by a pitch. Boyd faked out Jonathan Aranda before Griffin Jax entered and forced Alejandro Kirk into a double play.
Meneses led off the ninth with a single against Garrett Whitlock, who struck out Alejandro Osuna and Julian Ornelas before getting Alek Thomas out on a groundout.
Whitlock got the save from Paul Skenes, who allowed one hit and one walk while striking out seven over four innings.
Judge and Bobby Witt Jr. each had two hits for the United States.
Of Mexico’s 7 hits, Duran (3 hits) and Meneses combined for 5 hits.
Mexican starting pitcher Manny Barreda, who made three appearances for the Baltimore Orioles in 2021, gave up two hits and three walks with one strikeout in two innings.
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