Turner keeps on crushing, ties Classic record with 5th home run

If there is one enduring memory of the 2023 World Baseball Classic, it might be Trea Turner circling the bases.

Turner homered yet again for Team USA in the WBC championship game on Tuesday night against Japan. He connected in the second inning for his fifth home run of the tournament, which tied the record for a single Classic. Turner matched Seung Yuop Lee’s five home runs for Korea in the inaugural 2006 WBC.

But it wasn’t enough as Team USA lost, 3-2, and undefeated Japan won its third WBC title.

The home run also gave Turner 11 RBIs in this WBC, third all-time behind the 13 that Masataka Yoshida of Japan had this year and the 12 that the Netherlands’ Wladimir Balentien totaled in 2017.

Turner’s power surge was one of the key catalysts for Team USA — even as he hit mainly at the bottom of the USA order. His latest home run got the U.S. out to an early 1-0 lead against Japan.

Turner’s second home run of the WBC was a go-ahead grand slam against Venezuela in the quarterfinals, turning a 7-5 deficit in the eighth inning into a 9-7 victory.

He also homered in a 12-1 victory over Canada in USA’s third game of pool play, and he crushed two home runs in USA’s convincing 14-2 semifinal victory over Cuba.

Turner’s first home run in that game traveled 428 feet into the bleachers at loanDepot park. Four innings later, his second home run of the game drove in three runs and blew the game open for Team USA.