Aaron Judge hit a two-run homer and Roman Anthony added a three-run blast in a big third inning to lead the United States to a 5-3 victory over Mexico in the World Baseball Classic at Daikin Park in Houston on Monday night.
The USA improved to 3-0 and will meet Italy (2-0) on Tuesday night, looking to secure a spot in the quarterfinals in Houston this weekend.
Jarren Duran scored two goals for Mexico (2-1), which will face Italy on Wednesday evening in the final match of Group B.
The match was played in front of a crowd of 41,628 that was decidedly pro-Mexico.
NL Cy Young Award winner Paul Skinnes allowed one hit and struck out seven in four innings as the United States avenged an 11-5 loss to Mexico in the 2023 World Boxing Championships.
The USA led by three entering the eighth inning before Matthew Boyd took a spin 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 from Alejandro Kirk to end the inning.
Bryce Harper singled with a ball that hit reliever Jesus Cruz in the leg with no outs in the third inning.
Judge, who also had outside help, followed his drive to right field to give the Americans a 2-0 lead and give them their second home run of the tournament.
Kyle Schwarber singled and Cal Raleigh had a hit single before Anthony’s homer to right-center pushed the lead to 5-0.
Duran came back for the second game in a row with his solo shot that hit Boyd, cutting the deficit to 5-1 with one out in the sixth inning.
There were two in the game and two outs when Joey Meneses singled in a run to make it 5-2.