Kyle Schwarber hit a two-run homer and Gunnar Henderson had four hits and two RBIs as the United States won 9-1 over Britain on Saturday night in the World Baseball Classic at Daikin Park in Houston.
Team USA improved to 2-0 in Group B in Houston, while Team Britain fell to 0-2.
Nate Eaton homered to Tarik Skubal’s first pitch to give Britain a quick lead that it held until the fifth inning. But his teammates couldn’t muster anything else on the board.
The American hitters could only manage a single when Ernie Clement reached on an error by third baseman Evan Johnson to start the fifth inning. Pete Crow-Armstrong doubled his goal before Clement scored on a home run by Andre Scrubb to tie the score at 1.
Schwarber followed with a 427-foot home run that landed near the back of the second deck in right field to put the USA up 3-1.
There were two outs in the inning when Henderson’s two-run single made it 5-1.
Aaron Judge, who pitched in Friday night’s win over Brazil, homered in the metal scoreboard with a 109.6 mph RBI single in the sixth of a three-run inning that pushed it to 8-1.
Skubal allowed two hits on five hits in three innings.
It is scheduled to be the only start of the tournament for the two-time AL Cy Young Award winner, who will return to spring training with the Tigers on Sunday.
Britain (0-2) will play with Italy on Sunday.
The Americans are off until NL Cy Young Award winner Paul Skines plays Monday night against Mexico.