World Classic: Americans crush Brazilians

Pascal Harvey
World Classic: Americans crush Brazilians
Credit: MLB.com

The Brazilians are not known as a baseball powerhouse, and the American Dream Team quickly took care of business against the South Americans in the first game between the two teams in the World Baseball Classic.

Aaron Judge and his teammates handed Brazil an embarrassing 15-5 defeat. Both teams are in Group B along with Mexico, Great Britain, and Italy. Only the top two teams will advance to the next round after the preliminary round. Logically, the Americans and Mexicans should be the lucky ones. Yesterday, the American bats came alive early, and it was thanks to Aaron Judge's two-run homer that they were able to take a 2-1 lead after the first inning.

Logan Webb was the starting pitcher for Team USA and pitched four solid innings before giving way to Michael Wacha. Wacha was not as convincing, allowing three runs on four hits to the Brazilian batters.

Lucas Ramirez, the son of Manny Ramirez, had a dream night, hitting not one but two home runs in the loss. The young Ramirez became the youngest player since Harry Ford (with Great Britain in 2023) to hit a home run in this tournament. At 20 years and 49 days old, he will long remember his home runs off Webb in the first inning and Gabe Speier in the eighth inning.

The young man was selected by the Los Angeles Angels in the 2024 draft. These home runs will give him a lot of visibility as he moves forward in his career.

The Brazilian manager used no fewer than eight pitchers against the powerful American machine, including Joseph Contreras, the son of José Contreras, a former Major League pitcher between 2003 and 2013.

The Americans were opportunistic, scoring their 15 runs on just 10 hits. Brice Turang had three of those hits, while Roman Anthony and Kyle Schwarber had two each.

The Americans' next game will be today against Great Britain. Byron Buxton gave the Americans and his Minnesota Twins organization a scare when he left the game in the fifth inning. The center fielder is making his World Baseball Classic debut and had a very good 2025 season. Often injured, the 32-year-old athlete should not miss any additional playing time, much to the relief of those around him.

Today, Tarik Skubal will take the mound against the British team. The eyes of the baseball world will be on him to see how he performs on the international stage.

The left-hander is expected to impress fans gathered in Houston who will be eager to see him shine against a team that, like Brazil, poses no threat.

PMLB
  • Another victory for Japan (8-5) this morning, against Korea.
  • Francisco Lindor supports his Puerto Rican friends from home.
  • Manny Machado stood out defensively in a win for the Dominicans.
  • Bryce Harper wants MLB players to play in the 2028 Olympics.

Created by humans, assisted by AI.

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