Aaron Judge hit a two-run homer and Roman Anthony added a three-run drive in a big third inning to lead the United States over Mexico, 5-3, 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 of the Pirates allowed one hit and struck out seven in four innings as the U.S. beat Mexico at the WBC for the first time since 2006. The Americans lost 11-5 to Mexico in 2023.
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 second home run of the tournament, an opposite-field drive to right field that put the Americans up 2-0.
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.