The Caimanes de Barranquilla defeated the Tigres de Cartagena 8-2 on Sunday night to clinch their third consecutive championship in Colombia’s Liga Profesional de Béisbol.
Caimanes won the best-of-seven series in five games and closed it out in dominant fashion, outscoring Tigres 16-3 over the final two games.
Cartagena struck first, taking a 2-0 lead in the opening inning on a two-run single by Gio Urshela. From that point on, however, the game belonged to Caimanes.
Dilson Herrera cut the deficit in half with an RBI double in the second inning, and Carlos Arroyo tied the game with an RBI double in the fifth. Caimanes broke the game open in the sixth inning, using a combination of an error, an RBI single and a sacrifice fly to take a 5-2 lead.
Arroyo added a two-run single later in the inning to make it 7-2, and a wild pitch allowed another run to score, pushing the lead to 8-2.
Caimanes held that advantage the rest of the way. Venezuelan-Colombian right-hander Pedro García recorded the final three outs to seal the victory and secure Caimanes’ record-breaking 15th league championship. García previously pitched earlier this winter for Tiburones de La Guaira in Venezuela.
With the title, Caimanes will represent Colombia’s winter league at the Serie de las Américas, which will be held next month in Caracas and La Guaira, Venezuela.
Beyond the championship, another major storyline emerged when Herrera announced his retirement from professional baseball.
Herrera, a 31-year-old infielder from Cartagena, made his major league debut with the New York Mets in 2014. He appeared in 105 games across parts of four seasons with the Mets, Cincinnati Reds and Baltimore Orioles, batting .199 with a .290 on-base percentage and .386 slugging percentage. He hit 11 home runs and drove in 28 runs.
Herrera last played affiliated minor league baseball in 2021. Since then, he continued his career in the Atlantic League, Mexico and Colombia. He announced he will transition into coaching and will join the Cleveland organization as a manager in the Dominican Summer League later this year.
While Herrera’s MLB career was limited, his most significant impact came on the international stage. His go-ahead home run against Panama during the 2016 World Baseball Classic qualifiers helped Colombia earn its first-ever berth in the WBC. The moment remains widely regarded as one of the most important hits in the history of Colombian baseball.
During the Caimanes’ championship celebration in Barranquilla, Herrera addressed the crowd and reflected on his journey.
“Barranquilla will always be my home,” Herrera said. “I will return to Caimanes in another role, but I will always return. I thought for four months about what to say, but today I’m not going to say anything I wrote. I want to thank this organization that rebuilt my career. Thank you all. Thank you, Barranquilla.”
Caimanes’ next challenge will come at the Serie de las Américas, scheduled for Feb. 5-13. The tournament field will include the champions from Nicaragua, Curaçao and Venezuela, Panama’s 2024-25 champions Águilas Metropolitanas, the defending Serie de las Américas champions — Cuba’s national team — and Argentina’s Club Daom.
Photo: The Caimanes de Barranquilla celebrate championship. (Photo courtesy of LPBC)
