Italy shuts out Brazil, with Verona native Aldegheri leading the charge

HOUSTON -- Entering the World Baseball Classic, Team Italy manager Francisco Cervelli said his goal was to "put Italy on the map" as a baseball country.

So for his team's first game against Brazil on Saturday at Daikin Park, he handed the ball to Sam Aldegheri -- one of the few MLB players ever born in Italy, and the first Italian-born pitcher to reach the Majors in nearly 80 years.

Aldegheri, wearing his country's uniform for the first time, rose to the occasion. The 24-year-old left-hander led Italy to an 8-0 win over Brazil in their WBC opener, pitching 4 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and collecting eight strikeouts.

"Everybody's proud of him -- the first pitcher ever pitching in the Major Leagues [born and raised] in Italy," said Cervelli, who's known Aldegheri for the better part of two years now. "We had this idea a long time ago about [saving] this game for him."

It was a big moment for Aldegheri and a great start for Team Italy, coming off its quarterfinal appearance in the 2023 Classic.

"I was trying to not think about it the last couple of days," Aldegheri said of preparing to make his start with the hopes of Italian baseball resting on his shoulders. "But this morning I was feeling a lot of pressure."

And when the Italian national anthem came on at Daikin Park, he felt the emotion of the moment even more.

"I had goosebumps all over my body," Aldegheri said. "It was chilling. I was in the bullpen next to our pitching coach, [Alessandro] Maestri, who has been on this stage a couple of times. I was just feeling it deep inside. I was just trying to think about the game. But in those moments it's hard. You have all these feelings about back home -- everything goes through your mind. So it was really cool."

His first strikeout settled him down. He reminded himself, "Be you." And then he went out and got seven more K's to make his country proud.

Though the Italians were also held scoreless for much of the game by Brazil starter Enzo Sawayama, they were finally able to break through in the sixth inning after Aldegheri's shutdown performance.

Astros outfielder Zach Dezenzo -- playing in his home ballpark in Houston -- opened the scoring with an RBI single, and Royals slugger Jac Caglianone tacked on another run with a double off the glove of Brazil first baseman Dante Bichette Jr. and down the right-field line.

Dante Nori homered twice late and Dominic Canzone crushed a three-run no-doubter into the second deck in right field to punctuate the victory -- bringing out shots of espresso in the Italian dugout.

Nori, at just 21 years and 151 days old, became the second-youngest player in WBC history with a multi-homer game … after Brazil's Lucas Ramirez -- Manny's 20-year-old son -- did it one day before against Team USA.

But it all started with Aldegheri, who was born and raised in Verona, Italy, growing up in the small town of San Martino Buon Albergo. After playing in the Italian Baseball League, signing with the Phillies as an international free agent in 2019 and being traded to the Angels in 2024, he finally reached the Majors.

When he made his MLB debut on Aug. 30, 2024, Aldegheri became the first native Italian pitcher to make it to the big leagues since Rugger Ardizoia for the Yankees in 1947. And he was just the eighth Italian-born player in Major League history.

But pitching for his country was a whole new experience even compared to his first MLB start.

"It's different," Aldegheri said. "Playing for your country is something that you can't really explain -- but you can feel it, feel all the support from back home. It's amazing."

Aldegheri is now ranked the Angels' No. 17 prospect entering the 2026 season by MLB Pipeline.

The Italians' victory dropped Brazil to 0-2 in Pool B of the World Baseball Classic, a day after the team dropped a hard-fought game to Team USA on Friday. Brazil is still looking for its first WBC win as the country plays in its second Classic in 2026 after debuting in 2013.

Italy, meanwhile, joined Pool B favorites the U.S. and Mexico in winning its first game of the tournament. Those two teams will be Italy's last two matchups of pool play.

But for now, Aldegheri is just hoping that kids in Italy are watching this team and getting inspired to play baseball.

"For the kids, I feel like it just gives a lot of hope to them," Aldegheri said. "Baseball is not really a thing in Italy. It's slowly growing. [I just want to] give them a lot of hope to see me here."