Aaron Judge hits first World Baseball Classic homer in Team USA win
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Aaron Judge wasted no time in scoring his first homer of the World Baseball Classic.
Judge, the Team USA captain, hit a two-run home run in the first inning, while Brice Turang had three hits and four RBIs to lead Team USA to a stunning win over Brazil in the opener of the World Baseball Classic on Friday night.
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Cal Raleigh #29, Byron Buxton #25 and Roman Anthony #3 from the United States celebrate scoring off an RBI double by American Brice Turang #13 in the fifth inning against Brazil during the 2026 World Baseball Classic Pool B game between the United States and Brazil at Daikin Park on March 6, 2026 in Houston, Texas. (Kenneth Richmond/Getty Images)
When Judge, the first player to join the team last April, connected with Bo Takahashi at Daikin Park in Houston, it was one-and-done in the first game.
Lucas Ramirez played twice for Brazil, joined by his father, 12-time All-Star Manny Ramirez. He extended the lead to 2-1 with his go-ahead goal, and his solo shot in the eighth put Brazil up 8-5.
Aaron Hakimi #99 of the United States celebrates hitting a two-run home run in the first inning against Brazil during the 2026 World Baseball Classic Pool B game between the United States and Brazil at Daikin Park on March 6, 2026 in Houston, Texas. (Kenneth Richmond/Getty Images)
At the age of 20 years and 49 days, he became the youngest player in WBC history to play a multi-point game.
Byron Buxton was hit by a pitch in the fifth inning that cut the Americans’ lead to 4-1. Two shots later, Turang cleared the goal with a double shot to the left and the score was 7-1.
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Brice Turang, #13 of Team USA, hits a three-run double in the fifth inning of the 2026 World Baseball Classic Pool B game presented by Capital One between Team USA and Team Brazil at Daikin Park on Friday, March 6, 2026 in Houston, Texas. (Rob Tringali/WBCI/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
Brazil is in the WBC for the second time and first time since 2013. The team fell to 0-4 all-time in the tournament in 2013 after losing to Japan, Cuba and China.
Another highlight for Brazil was when 17-year-old high school senior Joseph Contreras grounded Judge into a bases-filled double play to end the second inning. Contreras, the WBC’s youngest player this year, is the son of pitcher José Contreras, who played 11 seasons in MLB.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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