Kyle Schwarber turns the lights on, Team USA blows out Great Britain 9-1

There was lightning in the sky outside Daikin Park in Houston on Saturday night when Kyle Schwarber stepped to the plate in the fifth inning with Team USA and Great Britain locked in a 1-1 tie.

You know what happened next.

Schwarber sent an Andre Scrubb cutter 427 feet into the second deck in right field. The crowd of 34,368 erupted. The U.S. scored five runs in the inning. Team USA won 9-1 and is now 2-0 in the tournament heading into Monday’s heavyweight matchup against Mexico.

Kyle Schwarber. RING IT.

KYLE SCHWARBER. RING IT. 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/jWB4eNX8NO

— The Liberty Line (@LibertyLinePHL) March 8, 2026

Schwarbs gets the people going ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/9sCb7N7o7Y

— USA Baseball (@USABaseball) March 8, 2026

The game had been a weird one up to that point. Tarik Skubal, the back-to-back AL Cy Young winner, got jumped on the very first pitch he threw when Great Britain’s Nate Eaton smacked a leadoff home run to put the Brits on top.

Then Trayce Thompson robbed Will Smith of a home run with a catch that will be in WBC highlight reels for years. Through four innings, Team USA had nothing going offensively. Against Great Britain.

Early leader for catch of the World Baseball Classic?! 😤

Trayce Thompson takes a homer away from Will Smith! pic.twitter.com/HUmibWqvUX

— MLB (@MLB) March 8, 2026

Then Kyle Schwarber happened. Same as he always does.

DeRosa moved Schwarber to the leadoff spot for Saturday’s game, a lineup tweak from the Brazil opener where Schwarber hit cleanup. When DeRosa told him about the change, Schwarber joked “You went from the fastest leadoff hitter in the game to the slowest leadoff hitter.”

Maybe… but also the one who hit 56 home runs last season. And the one who homered against Great Britain in the 2023 WBC. And the one who hit an upper-deck shot against Japan in the 2023 championship game.

Kyle Schwarber on the international stage is just a fact of life at this point. He now has a .727 slugging percentage and 1.243 OPS in seven career WBC games.

Aaron Judge homered in his first career WBC at-bat on Friday against Brazil. Kyle Schwarber went deep Saturday against the Brits. The two most feared power hitters in this lineup are locked in and Team USA has not really been tested yet.

109 HR between Kyle Schwarber and Aaron Judge last year… good luck

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Monday against Mexico is going to be different.

Kyle Schwarber was on the 2023 team that got beaten up 11-5 by Mexico in pool play at Chase Field, a game he described as having a playoff atmosphere unlike anything he had seen in that stadium. He remembers it. He said it felt like a Phillies postseason game at Citizens Bank Park, which is the highest possible compliment from Kyle Schwarber.

Monday night at 8 on FOX. Paul Skenes on the mound. Schwarber leading off. Mexico waiting. This is the one we have been waiting for.

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