MEXICO CITY – It’s hard to pitch at 7,300 feet of elevation in Mexico City.
Former Diablos Rojos del Mexico pitcher Trevor Bauer, who won a Cy Young Award in Major League Baseball, compared pitching at Estadio Alfredo Harp Helu, the Diablos’ home park here, to pitching on the moon. The thinner air makes breaking balls break less and fastballs not move at all, which makes the ballpark a hitter’s paradise and a pitcher’s nightmare.
But Kane County Cougars starter Brandon Komar had no trouble with the altitude, going five scoreless innings and allowing just three hits, striking out five and walking none, as the Cougars mauled the Cocodrilos de Matanzas of Cuba’s Serie Nacional, taking a 9-0 victory in the first shutout in a Baseball Champions League game played at Estadio Alfredo Harp Helu.
“It’s been tough for everybody, except for with Brandon today and the way we pitched today,” said Kane County manager George Tsamis of the thin air in Mexico City. “But it’s tough. Games are never over here. It’s just tough. You got to keep the ball down. And I can’t say enough on what a great job Brandon did today.”
Arriving in Mexico City, Komar said of the altitude, “The first couple days down here, it took a little bit of getting used to, but once I kind of found that feel and everything, everything started to click.”
Attacking the zone with a fastball and using that to set up a sinker and a changeup, Komar kept the Matanzas quiet and was remarkably efficient doing it, using just 24 pitches over the first two innings and 59 in total.
Playing against Matanzas, a team with very few players who’ve played outside of Cuba can present a challenge, but Komar said, “The biggest thing is just understand your game plan and just trust your stuff and your ability and just go make it happen.”
And while Komar was making it happen on the mound, the Cougars’ lineup made it happen at the plate.
Leading off the second, Todd Lott’s comebacker to the mound bounced off Matanzas starter Brander Guevara and skittered to short, where Luis Mateo made a good throw to first, but Lott beat it to the bag. Max Murphy’s one-out single and a walk to Juan Fernandez loaded the bases for Claudio Finol, who grounded into a fielder’s choice at short, allowing Lott to score when Finol beat out the double-play relay.
In the top of the fourth, the Cougars clawed the game open, sending 10 batters to the plate and scoring seven runs, including a three-run homer by Armond Upshaw that carried and carried in the thin air of Mexico City until it was over the wall for a three-run homer, and then two batters later, Todd Lott hit a two-run homer into the left field bullpen to make it 9-0.
In total, Comar faced 19 batters, and only Matanzas’ Jose Norona made it to scoring position, swiping second after a one-out single in the second, but Komar then struck out Andrys Perez, who was on Cuba’s World Baseball Classic roster, and Henyelo Videt to end the inning.