Vinnie Pasquantino had the World Baseball Classic’s first three-homer game, leading Italy to a 9-1 win over Mexico on Wednesday night at Houston’s Daikin Park to win Pool B.
It also advanced the United States to the WBC quarterfinals as the group’s second-place team.
Italy’s victory ended a day of uncertainty for the Americans, who needed help to become one of the final eight remaining in the 20-team tournament after losing to Italy 8-6 on Tuesday night.
Pasquantino, who opened the tournament 0-for-12, homered leading off the second, sixth and eighth innings to propel Italy to the quarterfinals for a third time at the WBC and the second tournament in a row.
The 28-year-old Pasquantino was born and raised in Virginia — even playing his college baseball at Old Dominion in Norfolk — but is of Italian descent. Even beyond his recent WBC struggles, the 28-year-old left-handed first baseman and designated hitter for the Kansas City Royals was an unlikely candidate to produce so much pop at the plate on one night.
“I’ve never done it before,” he said of hitting three home runs in any game, not even in Little League. “So I don’t have a lot of multihomer games in general, but tonight is the first time I’ve ever done it.”
Jon Berti also homered for Italy to help build a big lead early.
The Italians will face Puerto Rico in the quarterfinals in Houston on Saturday, a day after the U.S. plays Canada, which advanced past the first round for the first time.
Mexico’s loss eliminated it from qualifying for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, a disappointment for a team that finished third in the 2023 WBC, losing to eventual champion Japan in the semifinals.
Italy went 4-0 in pool play after no other European team had won more than two WBC games in a row.
Pasquantino celebrated with an espresso shot from the dugout machine after each homer, Italy’s fitting celebration after home runs.
He tried to bunt on his first pitch, then homered to the first row of the right-field seats off Javier Assad in the second inning. Berti’s shot to to left doubled the lead in the fourth.
Dante Nori’s run-scoring sacrifice bunt extended the lead in a three-run fifth capped by Jakob Marsee’s two-run single for a 5-0 lead.
Pasquantino homered starting the sixth against Daniel Duarte and again off Robert Garcia in the eighth.
Winning pitcher Aaron Nola allowed four hits and struck out five batters in five scoreless innings. Assad took the loss, permitting four runs and four hits in 4 1/3 innings.
Mexico loaded the bases with no outs in the seventh but managed just one run on a groundout by Alek Thomas.
Canada beat Cuba 7-2 in a winner-take-all game in San Juan, Puerto Rico, behind Abraham Toro’s homer and Otto Lopez’s two-run single.
Brothers Bo Naylor and Josh Naylor drove in runs, Owen Caissie had two RBIs, and reliever James Paxton struck out six batters in 2 2/3 scoreless innings for Canada (3-1), which eliminated the Cubans (2-2) and won Group A over Puerto Rico (3-1). Cuba was knocked out in the first round for the first time.
Cuba finished with three errors, and left fielder Ariel Martinez allowed Toro’s catchable fly ball starting the seventh to fall for a double. The Canadians broke open the game with a three-run sixth inning that included a dropped popup, a foul pop that fell, a wild pickoff throw and a catcher’s interference call on Andrys Perez, whose passed ball led to Canada’s first run.
Cuba escaped a bases-loaded jam in the first when Matt Davidson hit an inning-ending popout off losing pitcher Livan Moinelo, but Canada went ahead in the third on Caissie’s sacrifice fly. Toro homered in the fifth on a splitter from Yariel Rodriguez, a 420-foot drive to right.
The WBC semifinals are Sunday and Monday, with the title game Tuesday.
Cuba scored in the bottom half on Yoelkis Guibert’s run-scoring groundout off winner Cal Quantrill, who allowed an unearned run and two hits over five innings.
Canada opened a 3-1 lead in the sixth on Bo Naylor’s RBI double.
Martinez drove in a run in the bottom half with his third hit, and Josh Naylor had an RBI single in the seventh on a soft fly to left that popped up of the glove of Martinez, who tried for a sliding catch.
Cuba went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position. Adam Macko escaped a bases-loaded jam in the sixth when Yiddi Cappe swung over a curveball ,and James Paxton struck out Moncada in the seventh to leave runners at the corners.
Fernando Tatis Jr., Ketel Marte, Juan Soto and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. — the top four hitters in the order — all homered, and the Dominican Republic finished off an unbeaten run through Pool D by beating Venezuela 7-5.
Both teams entered the game — played before a sellout crowd of 36,230 at Miami’s LoanDepot Park — knowing they were headed to the quarterfinals.
Tatis, Marte, Soto and Guerrero were a combined 9-for-18 for the winners, driving in all seven runs and scoring five of them.
The Dominican Republic (4-0) takes on South Korea in a quarterfinal Friday, while Venezuela (3-1) will face Japan on Saturday. Ranger Suarez is the scheduled starting pitcher for Venezuela, and World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto will get the ball for the Samurai Warriors.
Maikel Garcia was 4-for-4, scored two runs and had an RBI for Venezuela, while Luis Arraez drove in a pair of runs, including a sacrifice fly in the ninth. Venezuela loaded the bases while down by four with no outs, and Arraez made it 7-4 with a liner to left.
Willson Contreras hit a grounder on the next pitch that could have been turned into a game-ending 1-6-3 double play, but Elvis Alvarado’s throw sailed into center field and Ronald Acuña Jr. scored.
That was it for the rally, though, as Salvador Perez grounded into a game-ending double play.
Soto hit a two-run homer in the first inning off losing pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez, his second of this year’s tournament and the fourth of his WBC career, tying Nelson Cruz and Adrián Beltré for the most in his nation’s history.
Marte and Guerrero connected on solo shots in the third inning, then Tatis hit a three-run homer in the fourth for a 7-3 lead.
Venezuela came in having allowed five runs in its first three WBC contests; it gave up seven in the first four innings Wednesday. The Dominican Republic outscored its four pool-play opponents 41-10.
Winning pitcher Sandy Alcantara — the Marlins ace was pitching in his home ballpark — gave up three runs and five hits while striking out three batters in three innings.