This was supposed to be the biggest mismatch of the World Baseball Classic, a team composed primarily of non-affiliated baseball players facing the most decorated roster in the competition’s history.
Instead, Brazil gave the best USA team ever assembled everything that it could handle through the first eight innings of its first game of the tournament Friday night in Houston.
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The end result was ultimately a blowout in favor of the favorites, but it was a three-run game after eight innings and far from the cakewalk many expected.
Here are my takeaways:
1. With Lucas Being Manny, Brazil Doesn’t Back Down
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(Photo by Houston Astros/Getty Images) –> <!–>
Brazil doesn’t have any active MLB players on the roster, but it does have the son of 12-time All-Star Manny Ramirez.
And on Friday, Lucas Ramirez looked a lot like a left-handed version of his dad.
The 20-year-old Angels prospect, who was drafted in the 17th round in 2024, wasn’t intimidated facing two-time All-Star Logan Webb to begin the night. Ramirez pulled Webb’s second pitch of the game, a four-seamer at the bottom of the zone, 104.1 mph off the bat and over the right-field wall.
Seven innings later, Ramirez — who hit just three home runs in 60 minor-league games last season — added his second home run when he lifted a solo shot off reliever Gabe Speier, who surrendered just three home runs and seven extra-base hits to left-handed hitters all of last season.
USA vs. Brazil ⚾️ World Baseball Classic on FOX
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It’s been quite the week for Ramirez, who two days ago also went deep off Jacob deGrom in an exhibition against the Texas Rangers. Ramirez played an important role in getting Brazil to the tournament, having gone 5-for-13 in the qualifiers, and again starred on Friday night.
Webb rebounded from the early homer to retire each of the next 12 batters he faced, including six via strikeout, in a four-inning start. As a team, the U.S. pitching staff retired 15 straight batters after the Ramirez home run. The streak ended with a Gabriel Carmo single off Michael Wacha to start the sixth, at which point the U.S. offense had built a comfortable lead.
But even after falling behind by six runs, Brazil didn’t lay down.
An RBI single by Lucas Rojo and a homer by Victor Mascai off Michael Wacha, plus Ramirez’s late home run, kept the game surprisingly tight for most of the night — close enough that closer Mason Miller had to get warm and pitch the ninth, despite the comfortable advantage after USA’s ninth-inning onslaught.
2. Heckuva Story For High School Pitcher Joseph Contreras
Ramirez isn’t the only player on Brazil’s roster with MLB bloodlines. There’s also Dante Bichette Jr. and 17-year-old Joseph Contreras, the son of former All-Star pitcher José Contreras, who’s the youngest player in the tournament.
After his noteworthy appearance Friday, Contreras can go back to Blessed Trinity High School in Georgia and tell all his friends at school that he got the reigning American League MVP to ground into an inning-ending double play.
Contreras struggled with his control but limited damage, jamming Judge on a grounder to escape a bases-loaded jam in the second inning and ultimately holding the star-studded U.S. roster to just one run in 1.1 innings. Pretty cool for the high school senior and Vanderbilt commit, who has the build of a big-leaguer at 6-foot-4 and is a top-50 draft prospect.
Brazil went from the youngest player in the tournament to third-oldest when 40-year-old Tiago Da Silva replaced Contreras in the third inning and fired 1.2 scoreless innings of relief.
3. Aaron Judge’s Loud Welcome To The WBC
Judge set the tone for Team USA 11 months ago when he was the first player to commit to the team. The U.S. captain, participating in the WBC for the first time, wasted no time getting acclimated to the international stage.
With his first swing in his first at-bat of the competition, Judge made former D-backs prospect Bo Takahashi pay for hanging a 3-0 sweeper. The three-time MVP sent the pitch 405 feet to left-center for a two-run home run.
Aaron Judge crushes two-run homer, giving United States early lead over Brazil
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“Ton of respect for the other guys in the room,” USA manager Mark DeRosa said on the FOX broadcast, “but certainly, it revolves around him.”
Three batters into the game, USA led 2-0. It seemed like it might just be a matter of time until the mercy rule applied. (First round and quarterfinal round games end if a team leads by at least 15 runs after the fifth or 10 after the seventh). Instead, Judge’s early blast turned out to be more important than it seemed at the time, considering the way Brazil worked around traffic on the bases for most of the night.
Eventually, though, the Brazil pitching staff’s 17 walks surrendered came back to bite them in a seven-run USA ninth.
4. Brice Turang Helps USA Break Through Late
Brazil had spent the day playing with fire and emerging largely unscathed … until Brice Turang stepped to the plate with one out in the fifth.
At the time, the U.S. offense had five hits, eight walks and one hit batter but only four runs. USA finished the night 5-for-21 with runners in scoring position and left 13 runners on base in the win, but Turang broke the game open with a slicing double that Mascai had trouble reading in left. The hit cleared the bases and served as an example of the danger at every portion of the U.S. lineup.
Even the players on the U.S. roster primarily for their defense — Turang was the 2024 National League Platinum Glove Award winner — can do damage at the plate.
Turang, who’s coming off a 5.6 bWAR season in which he hit 21% better than league average, had three of USA’s 10 hits and led the offense with four RBI.
4 ½. What’s Next For Team USA?
USA will have two-time AL Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal on the mound against Great Britain on Saturday, which lost its opener 8-2 to Mexico. After a day off on Sunday, the USA will have a Monday matchup against Mexico in what should be a raucous atmosphere in Houston. Team USA will close out Pool B play against Italy on Tuesday.
Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on X at @RowanKavner.
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