ZAPOPAN, Mexico – Five times in the last 15 days, the Charros de Jalisco and the Tomateros have played each other, four times in the Liga ARCO Mexicana del Pacifico championship series and once at the 2026 Caribbean Series.
And on Wednesday night at Estadio Panamericano, the Charros recorded their fifth straight win against their LAMP rivals, this time in the final round robin game of the 2026 Caribbean Series, topping the Tomateros 4-2 to improve to 3-1 and locking up at least the No. 2 seed in Friday’s semifinals.
The win did come at a price, however, as center fielder Billy Hamilton left the game after fouling a ball off his shin in his first at-bat and starter Ronald Medrano suffered a knee injury and left the game in the third inning.
“Billy, whether he starts or he’s coming off the bench, he’s the type of player that can change the outcome of a game with his glove, with his legs, with, I mean, nobody in this tournament can hit a single and turn it into a run as easy as he can. So, yeah, he can affect the game in many different ways,” Charros manager Benji Gil said of his center fielder. “I think it’s just a bruise to the shin. He hit the ball pretty good off the shin. There’s some swelling. We’re going to make sure he gets an x -ray to make sure that it’s not nothing more than a bruise. I mean, luckily, we have a day off tomorrow. It gives him a little bit more time to recoup.”
Charros starter Ronald Medrano hit Tomateros leadoff man Carlos Sepulveda with the second pitch of the game, and the next batter, Allen Cordoba, advanced him to third with a single. Rodolfo Amador’s sac fly to deep left got Sepulveda home for a 1-0 lead.
The lead was short-lived, though, as the Charros got a double from Michael Wielansky and successive singles from Willie Calhoun and Mateo Gil that got Wielansky home to tie the game at one apiece.
Reynaldo Rodriguez led off the second for the Charros, and when Tomateros starter left a 1-0 fastball over the middle of the plate, Rodriguez sent it into the left field bleachers, giving Culiacan a 2-1 lead.
Bing Bong Bingly Bungly Boo, Reynaldo Rodriguez hits a solo homer and the @clubtomateros lead 2-1.pic.twitter.com/dQCJdxXMcH
— @leifskodnick.bsky.social (@LeifSkodnick) February 5, 2026
Allen Cordoba led off the third for the Tomateros with a double to left, and Amador followed with a double to left that scored Cordoba to tie the game at two apiece.
Then, with a 2-1 count to Culican’s Joey Meneses, Medrano threw a fastball and fell to the dirt, clutching his right leg. After an examination by the trainer and manager Benji Gil, Medrano had to be helped to the dugout and left the game, with Cesar Gomez inheriting a 2-2 count. Cesar Gomez came on to replace Medrano, retiring the side.
“Unfortunately, there is still no diagnosis. Tomorrow morning they will take him to do a resonance. Obviously the pain right now is a lot, that’s why you have to do the resonance and you have to be careful and make sure that there’s nothing structural in the knee,” Gil said of Medrano’s injury. The Charros starter was slated to pitch for Nicaragua in the 2026 World Baseball Classic, but the injury places his participation in jeopardy.
Julian Ornelas’ one-out single in the fifth gave the Charros a runner in scoring position when Braulio Torres-Perez balked making a pickoff move to first, and then Ornelas stole third on the next pitch. Struggling with control, Torres-Perez walked Willie Calhoun and then threw his 2-0 pitch to Mateo Gil 56 feet into the dirt, where it skipped to the backstop, allowing Ornelas to scoot home and make it 3-2.
Sepulveda led off the seventh with a single, and advanced to second when pitcher Jesus Cruz threw a block that prevented Charros first baseman Reynaldo Rodriguez from making the force play on Allen Cordoba’s grounder to first. Both runners advanced when Meneses grounded out to Rodriguez, who waved off Cruz and drew mild applause from the crowd for making the play. Yadir Drake drew a two-out walk to load the bases, but Estevan Florial struck out looking, and Cruz and the Charros escaped the top of the seventh with the 3-2 lead intact.
The Charros added an insurance run in the seventh on an RBI single by Michael Wielansky, who finished the game 2-for-4 and is the series’ hottest hitter and has nine hits in 15 at-bats.
With a two-run lead, reliever Gerardo Reyes struck out the side in the eighth, and Matt Foster came on for the ninth to earn his first save of the series, though not without some drama.
Foster allowed a leadoff single to Sepulveda, who was retired when Allen Cordoba hit into a fielder’s choice at short, and issued a two-out walk to Joey Meneses. Yadir Drake’s hot grounder to short looked like it would be the final out, but Charros shortstop Juan Carlos Gamboa bobble the ball and couldn’t get it to second in time for the force out, and suddenly the Tomateros had new life with the bases loaded and one out.
Former New York Yankee Estevan Florial came to the plate and fouled off three pitches, then looked at two balls before flying out to left to end the game.
With the win, the Charros finish the round robin 3-1 and will await the results of tomorrow’s games to find out who they’ll face in the semifinals. At 1-2, the Tomateros will likely make the semifinals unless Panama’s Federales de Chiriqui win a lopsided game against Puerto Rico’s Cangrejeros de Santurce Thursday.
NOTEBOOK – Charros infielder Conor Hollis, who served as the leadoff man in their series opener against the Dominican Republic, has been out of the lineup after the Charros’ second game after coming down with food poisoning. Gil said he hopes Hollis will be available for Friday’s semifinals. … Michael Wielansky said he hasn’t gotten a call from Israel about playing in the 2026 World Baseball Classic, but also said, “I’m going to keep my phone on and ready and I guess we’ll see what happens.” … Tomateros manager Lorenzo Bundy named Manny Barreda as his starter for Thursday’s game against the Dominican Republic’s Leones del Escogido.
2026 Caribbean Series Schedule
All times Eastern Standard Time
* – If either or both Mexico teams advance to the semifinals, they will play the late game regardless of seeding.
MEX-G – Mexico Green
MEX-R – Mexico Red
PR – Puerto Rico
DR – Dominican Republic
PAN – Panama
Sunday, Feb. 1
Cangrejeros de Santurce (PR) 5, Tomateros de Culiacán (MEX-G) 4
Leones del Escogido (DR) 5, Charros de Jalisco (MEX-R) 4
Monday, Feb. 2
Leones del Escogido (DR) 5, Cangrejeros de Santurce (PR) 3
Charros de Jalisco (MEX-R) 11, Federales de Chiriquí (PAN) 4
Tuesday, Feb. 3
Tomateros de Culiacan (MEX-G) 2, Federales de Chiriqui (PAN) 1
Charros de Jalisco (MEX-R) 3, Cangrejeros de Santurce (PR) 0
Wednesday, Feb. 4
Leones del Escogido (DR) 16, Federales de Chiriquí (PAN) 15
Charros de Jalisco (MEX-R) 4, Tomateros de Culiacán (MEX-G) 2
Thursday, Feb. 5
3 p.m. – Cangrejeros de Santurce (PR) vs. Federales de Chiriquí (PAN)
8 p.m. – Leones del Escogido (DR) vs. Tomateros de Culiacán (MEX-G)
Friday, Feb. 6
3 p.m. – Third Place vs. Second Place – Semifinal 1*
8 p.m. – First Place vs. Fourth Place – Semifinal 2*
Saturday, Feb. 7
8 p.m. – Championship Game
Photo: Juan Carlos Gamboa embraces Reynaldo Rodriguez after Rodriguez hit a solo homer for the Charros de Jalisco in Wednesday’s night 4-2 win over the Tomateros de Culiacan at the 2026 Caribbean Series. (Photo Courtesy of CBPC)
