MEXICO CITY – Needing a win to keep their hopes of a second consecutive Baseball Champions League title alive, the Diablos Rojos del Mexico ate the elephant one bite at a time.
Only twice in the game did the Diablos score more than one run in a single swing of a bat, putting balls in play to advance runners and being opportunistic against the CTBC Brothers defense, which was at times confounded by the windy conditions at Estadio Alfredo Harp Helu, to pull out a 12-4 win capped by a ninth-inning Jon Singleton grand slam and improve to 2-1.
It was the Brothers, though, that struck first, looking for their first win at the BCL against the two-time defending Liga Mexicana de Beisbol champs. Consecutive doubles by Huang Chun Lin and Hsu Shao yu got Huang across the plate for a 1-0 Brothers lead in the top of the first.
The Diablos struck back in the top of the second, tying the game when Ramon Flores scored on a double by Francisco Mejia. Rio Ruiz followed with a two-run homer to give Mexico a 3-1 lead.
In the third, Carlos Sepulveda drew a leadoff walk, advanced to second on Jon Singleton’s single to right field and then scored on a double by Maikel Franco. An inning later, Mejia doubled again to lead off the fourth, then scored all the way from first when Chung Shr Lin couldn’t handle Ruiz’s hot grounder at second, having the ball carom out of his glove and into the outfield.
The Brothers battled back, getting a solo homer from Su Wei Ta in the fourth, and a sac fly by Huang Chun Lin scored Chung Shr Lun to make it a 5-3 game.
In the top of the sixth, Bryan Gonzalez launched a leadoff homer over the bullpen in left field that landed on the walkway midway up the bleachers, giving the Diablos a 6-3 lead.
Lin Jui Chun punched back for the Brothers in the sixth, hitting a solo homer to right that cut the lead to 6-4.
Clinging to a two-run lead, the Diablos got a leadoff single from Bryan Gonzalez to start the eighth, and Carlos Sepulveda followed with a single. Both runners advanced on Moises Gutierrez’ ground out back to the box, giving the Diablos runners at second and third with one out, when Jose Marmolejos hit a grounder to short. Brothers shortstop Yang Shiang He fired home trying to get Gonzalez, but his throw went to the backstop, and it was 7-4. Up came Jon Singleton, and his high pop fly to short was blown around by the wind until Yang couldn’t get it, giving the Reds runners at the corners. Maikel Franco followed with a sac fly to center that scored Sepulveda to make it 8-4.
With the bases loaded in the top of the ninth, Jon Singleton homered to dead center field, his shot clearing the 410-foot marker in the deepest part of the ballpark, to make it 12-4 Diablos.
The Diablos got 3 2/3 innings from starter Ricardo Pinto, who allowed two runs on three hits. Pinto handed the ball off to Nick Vespi, who won five games during the Diablos’ run to the 2025 LMB title, and from there, the bullpen stifled CTBC, holding them to just two runs on five hits and a walk over 5 1/3 innings. Shane Greene, competing for a starting spot with the Diablos, allowed one run on the homer by Lin over three innings in relief, and Tomohiro Anraku closed out the win.
“We… wanted to make sure Greeney got a clean inning. We didn’t want to bring him in with men on base or anything like that,” Diablos manager Lorenzo Bundy said after the game. “And he gave us those three innings that we needed. So that helped a lot. It helped a lot. Anraku had two days off, so he was going to pitch; it didn’t matter the situation. And so it should be pretty good tomorrow as far as available bullpen arms, and rested bullpen arms.”
With the win, the Diablos improved to 2-1, and a win against the Dantos de Managua on Saturday at 4 p.m. EDT would likely get them into the championship game.
The CTBC Brothers finished their first BCL with an 0-4 record and a -23 run differential.
Scenarios For Sunday’s Final – After eight round robin games, four of the five teams at the 2026 BCL remain in the hunt for a berth in the final game on Sunday, including the Diablos, who would undoubtedly draw a sizable crowd on Sunday afternoon. The Kane County Cougars will earn a berth in the championship game with a win against the Dantos de Managua tomorrow morning. The Dantos need to beat the Cougars, and would also need the Cocodrilos de Matanzas to beat the Diablos tomorrow night. For the Cocodrilos to advance to the championship game, they need need the Dantos to lose on Saturday and they need to beat the Diablos by a wide margin. All three teams would then be tied at 2-2, and for Matanzas to win the team’s quality balance tiebreaker, which is used when more than two teams are tied, they’d likely need to win an absurdly lopsided game against Mexico.
Where to Watch – GameTime, the World Baseball Softball Confederation’s official streaming platform, will stream every game live. A full tournament pass is available for US$12.99, while a Championship Day pass is priced at US$9.99. Daily access for each round-robin day is available for US$7.99.
The 2026 Baseball Champions League will also be broadcast on television. ESPN will broadcast all 11 games in Mexico, while Canal 13 VIVA will carry the games in Nicaragua, Meridiano Televisión will televise the event in Venezuela, and Tele Rebelde will carry the games in Cuba.
2026 Baseball Champions League Schedule
All times Eastern Daylight Time
All games at Estadio Alfredo Harp Helu, Mexico City
March 24
Dantos de Managua 17, CTBC Brothers 5
Kane County Cougars 14, Diablos Rojos del Mexico 7
March 25
Cocodrilos de Matanzas 9, CTBC Brothers 8
Diablos Rojos del Mexico 10, Dantos de Managua 6
March 26
Kane County Cougars 16, CTBC Brothers 10
Dantos de Managua 16, Cocodrilos de Matanzas 6
March 27
Kane County Cougars 9, Cocodrilos de Matanzas 0
Diablos Rojos del Mexico 12, CTBC Brothers 4
March 28
Noon – Dantos de Managua vs. Kane County Cougars
6 p.m. – Cocodrilos de Matanzas vs. Diablos Rojos del Mexico
March 29
4 p.m. – Championship Game
Photo: Jon Singleton and the Diablos Rojos beat the CTBC Brothers 12-4. (Photo courtesy of the LMB)
