Trea Turner Ties World Baseball Classic Home Run Record
The Phillies star staked Team USA to an early lead in the WBC championship game.
Trea Turner is at it again.
In the top of the second inning of the World Baseball Classic championship game against Japan on Tuesday night, the dynamic shortstop tied the WBC tournament home run record when he crushed a 2-1 pitch from Shota Imanaga over the left-field wall at loanDepot Park in Miami.
Turner’s five home runs in this year’s World Baseball Classic ties South Korea’s Lee Seung-yuop’s mark set in the inaugural tournament in 2006.
The blast staked Team USA to an early 1-0 lead in its quest for a second straight WBC championship. Japan third baseman Munetaka Murakami tied the game, 1-1, with a home run into the upper deck beyond right field in the bottom of the second inning.
Turner currently leads all players in this year’s tournament in home runs, and his solo blast moves him one RBI ahead of Japan’s Masataka Yoshida (10).
Turner is just one RBI shy of tying the tournament record of Wladimir Balentien, who drove in 12 runs for the Netherlands in seven games in 2017.