It was quite the night for Vinnie Pasquantino.
Pasquantino, Italy’s captain, crushed three home runs against Mexico in the final game of play in Pool B at Houston’s Daikin Park on Wednesday night. In the process, Pasquantino became the first player with a three-homer game in the World Baseball Classic since the tournament began in 2006.
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Pasquantino got the scoring started with a solo home run in the second inning that narrowly traveled over Mexico right-fielder Jarren Duran’s glove and into the right-field seats. It was Pasquantino’s first hit of the 2026 WBC.
Italy’s first baseman homered for a second time in the sixth inning, when Pasquantino’s solo home run gave the club a commanding 6-0 lead. He put the finishing touches on his historic night with a third home run in the eighth inning against left-hander Robert Garcia.
All those deep balls also meant Pasquantino was consuming quite a bit of caffeine via Italy’s dugout Nespresso machine. Pasquantino, who came up with the idea as a home run celebration and had been the one providing it to teammates who homered, instead got to down three separate shots of espresso himself.