MEXICALI, Mexico – The Japan Breeze blew into El Nido de Las Aguilas Monday night looking for their first win against Mexico’s Charros de Jalisco at the Caribbean Series, only to get blown out 7-2 when Mexico exploded for five runs in the top of the fifth.
The Breeze, playing as an invitee, entered the tournament as something of a mystery team composed of mainly of players with experience in Japan’s minor leagues and unknowns from the country’s industrial leagues, fell to 0-3, while Mexico improved to 4-0, and will have a day to rest before Wednesday’s semifinals.
“For us, that’s totally focusing on rest, and let’s enjoy the victory, because we don’t even know who our rival is yet,” Mexico manager Benji Gil said in Spanish following the game. “So, to break your head trying to study two or possibly three potential rivals, that would be crazy. What we were going to do is rest [tomorrow].”
Mexico grabbed an early 1-0 lead when Rudy Martin Jr. led off the game with a single, then scored when Jasson Atondo followed him with a single. They added another in the top of the fourth when Jack Mayfield singled, and Japhet Amador followed him with a double that allowed Mayfield to scurry home from second.
Mexico starter Luis Ivan Rodriguez threw five innings, allowing one run on seven hits, striking out five.
The Breeze tied the game in the fourth when Taishi Mizumoto grounded into a fielder’s choice at second and Takuhishi Satoh scored from third to cut the Mexico lead to 2-1.
“I think that in yesterday’s game we were very good,” said Japan Breeze manager Alex Ramirez. “We had momentum at the beginning of the game. They had the opportunity to score, but they couldn’t, and that happens.”
But that was as close as the Breeze would get, as the winds of change blew hard in the fifth.
The fifth inning saw the Charros send eight men to the plate, with five of their first six batters coming in to score, two of whom scored on an incredibly rare pair of back-to-back balks by Japan Breeze pitcher Gaku Ueda.
Holding a 2-1 lead, Rudy Martin Jr. led off the inning with a single and stole second. Jasson Atondo followed with a single that advanced Martin to third. With runners at the corners, Atondo broke for second, and Breeze catcher Mitsuki Fukuda attempted a snap throw at third to catch Martin, but the throw went into left field, allowing Martin to score and Atondo to advance to third.
Mateo Gil followed with a single that scored Atondo, stole second, and then Jack Mayfield drew a four-pitch walk to give Mexico runners at first and second with one out. After a wild pitch from Japan’s Yamato Ota allowed the runners to advance, Japan opted to load the bases by issuing an intentional walk to Japhet Amador. Ota got Donovan Casey to fly out to right field for the second out of the inning, and Breeze manager Alex Ramirez had seen enough, bringing on Ueda to replace Ota.
But before Ota threw his first pitch, he balked, leaning into a set position and then straightening back up, and plate umpire Felix Tejada advanced each runner one base, with Mayfield coming in to score to make it 6-1. After Mayfield scored, Ueda made the same move, and Tejada called a balk again, allowing Amador to score and make it 7-1 before Ueda had thrown a single pitch.
Not something you see everyday! Back to back balks!!! #SerieDelCaribe2025 pic.twitter.com/8dy748ngg0
— World Baseball Network (@WorldBaseball_) February 4, 2025
In total, Japan used three different pitchers in the fifth, each throwing 1/3 of an inning. Ryo Negishi faced four batters, allowing three runs on three hits and striking out one. Yamato Ota faced three batters, allowing two earned runs and two walks. Ueda faced one batter and recorded a strikeout and two balks.
Japan added one more in the seventh when Ken Nakayauchi singled home Ren Tachioka to make it 7-2.
For the Japan Breeze, it was their second blowout loss in three games, after losing 12-1 to the Dominican Republic’s Leones del Escogido in their Caribbean Series debut and falling 3-2 to Puerto Rico’s Indios de Mayaguez on Sunday. Facing Venezuela’s Cardenales de Lara tomorrow, they’ll likely need a blowout win to have any chance of playing in Wednesday’s semifinals.
“We’re going to try to do our best to come back tomorrow and win tomorrow,” Ramirez said. “We’re going to try to do our best to come back tomorrow and win tomorrow. So that’s the only thing that I can say.”
Photo: Mexico won their fourth game of the 2025 Caribbean Series, beating the Japan Breeze 7-2 on Monday. (Photo Courtesy of CBPC)
