USA defeats Great Britain as they continue to roll at World Baseball Classic

[p]Outside of leadoff hitter Nate Eaton, the British bats went a whopping 0-for-25 at the plate, failing to gain any momentum at all. [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/usa/dSweSEc8/"]USA[/a] (2-0) pitchers tossed a combined 17 strikeouts without sacrificing a single walk. [/p][p]Relief pitcher [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/holmes-clay/UJgJGnbM/"]Clay Holmes[/a] got the win for the USA after tossing three shutout innings with six strikeouts, allowing one hit. Eight of the team's nine batters recorded at least one hit, while [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/henderson-gunnar/lpcnQYcg/"]Gunnar Henderson[/a] ([a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/baltimore-orioles/EcZwBi3N/"]Baltimore Orioles[/a]) led the way, going 4-for-5 at the plate with three four singles, two RBI, and a double.[/p][p]The USA has now put up a jaw-dropping 24 runs in their first two games (15 vs. [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/brazil/IqbFg267/"]Brazil[/a], 9 vs. [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/great-britain/2iGVi47K/"]Great Britain[/a]). [/p][embed guid="86a10341-0f46-4375-9dce-fb449dcaf1a9" url="https://x.com/MLB/status/2030496161937682879?s=20" social-type="twitter" /][h2]Recap and highlights[/h2][p]In the very first at-bat of the game, Great Britain's Eaton took the back-to-back American League Cy Young winner, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/skubal-tarik/zuS2jB1J/"]Tariki Skubal[/a], deep for a solo home run to make it 1-0. [/p][p]The hit was originally ruled a double, but was later overturned to a home run after further review. Eaton would finish the game 3-for-4. [/p][p]The U.S. has now allowed a home run in the first inning in each of their first two games at the 2026 World Baseball Classic. [/p][embed guid="9cbfb853-ecad-4394-94b5-50de2e7fc07b" url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7s-Wh-Ctj8" social-type="youtube" /][p]Skubal would bounce back in the second inning and retire the side on just nine pitches. But Great Britain's [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/thompson-trayce/UBBUUcpa/"]Trayce Thompson[/a], brother of NBA star Klay Thompson, robbed [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/smith-will/KbXtHnhB/"]Will Smith[/a] of a home run in what might be [i]the[/i] best catch of the 2026 WBC when all is said and done. [/p][p]Thompson's catch stopped the U.S. from tying the game up 1-1, as he finished the game ()-for-() at the plate. The U.S. had a runner on third in the second with two outs, but couldn't bring him home.[/p][embed guid="9e779b7f-7316-4711-83ae-258ed4e5ef81" url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBrNHx9575g" social-type="youtube" /][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/victor-najer/rLuA4aBk/"]Najer Victor[/a] put up the single-inning performance of the entire day among any team after he struckout [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/judge-aaron/WSFM7DfK/"]Aaron Judge[/a], [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/harper-bryce/GpZCixqB/"]Bryce Harper[/a], and Gunnard Henderson all in the fourth inning to maintain Great Britain's 1-0 lead. [/p][p]He would be taken out the next inning after American [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/clement-ernie/Gvj1LVo5/"]Ernie Clement[/a] reached first on a throwing error. Victor came out after 1.1 innings, not allowing a single hit with four strikeouts and one walk.[/p][embed guid="f0581b33-4d7c-4279-b81a-80b80da80fb2" url="https://x.com/WBCBaseball/status/2030468594912436416?s=20" social-type="twitter" /][p]Shortly after Victor was taken out, the U.S. began teeing off on Great Britain. [/p][p][b]Their first run of the matchup came from a wild pitch by [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/scrubb-andre/fakWpNgp/"]Andre Scrubb[/a] to make it 1-1. But then in came the National League leader in home runs in [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/schwarber-kyle/jPbF6sQD/"]Kyle Schwarber[/a], who launched a two-run bomb to deep right field to put the U.S. up 3-1. [/b][/p][p][b]The U.S. would continue to pour it on after Henderson would drill a two-run double to centerfield to go up 5-1 before the end of the inning.[/b][/p][embed guid="4962c753-bbcf-4776-a6d5-c988cd053be3" url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuLLQmXHxsg" social-type="youtube" /][p]From there on it was all Team USA. Both Will Smith - the only player to go without a single hit on Team USA - and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/bregman-alex/ClSxF6m0/"]Alex Bregman[/a] would bring in runs on a pair of sacrifice flies, while Judge would bring another home on an RBI single. [/p][p]Bregman would eventually get another sac-fly to make it the final score of 9-1. [/p][p]The U.S. will go on to face [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/mexico/ptt8Lj5l/"]Mexico[/a] on March 9th at 8:00 p.m. Eastern time. Meanwhile, Great Britain's next game is against [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/italy/Y1YKIlk7/"]Italy[/a] (1-0) and is scheduled for March 8th at 1:00 p.m. Eastern time.[/p][embed guid="a7a14bca-5a02-4512-bbe5-3e6817c85317" url="https://x.com/WBCBaseball/status/2030481236309823520?s=20" social-type="twitter" /]