MEXICALI, Mexico – On the first day of the 2025 Caribbean Series, just south of the Mexico and United States border with the sun beaming down on the El Nido de los Aguilas field, the 2024-25 LIDOM champion Leones del Escogido shut out the 2024-25 Liga Venezolana de Beisbol Profesional champion Cardenales de Lara 2-0 in front of 11,495 fans.
This was the first matchup between the Leones del Escogido and the Cardenales de Lara in Caribbean Series history, and the Leones pitching staff combined for nine shutout innings, allowing five hits, two walks, and notching eight strikeouts.
Starter Brooks Hall was outstanding, throwing five innings and allowing three hits, no earned runs, no walks, and striking out three, throwing 46 of his 63 pitches for strikes before manager Albert Pujols went to the bullpen for the top of the sixth, bringing out Ulises Joaquin.
“These guys were teammates and knew how to work with the flow. I made sure with the Leones del Escogido front office that I wanted them for the SDC. Francisco Mejia and Hall have had great chemistry during the 2024-25 LIDOM Season and they put in the work today,” Pujols said following the game. “It was an unbelievable performance by Brooks with what we had to adjust to, all day traveling and getting to the hotel on Wednesday and coming into today ready with no distractions and him coming up big when we needed him to.”
Hall and Mejia played for the Tigres del Licey through the LIDOM championship series and joined the Leones as reinforcements for the Caribbean Series.
“Me and Mejia have good chemistry when we work together and he knows when I like to throw my fastball and alongside getting ahead to pound the strikeout consistently,” Hall said.
Henry Blanco’s offense got runners to second base just three times as they fell to 0-1 at the Caribbean Series on Thursday.
“We didn’t get a chance to execute today, without having as many guys in scoring position. Coming into tomorrow, we have to prepare better to go up against Mexico’s pitching staff and put the first game out of our mindset in order to compete the rest of the way in the tournament,” Blanco said after the game.
The Cardenales threatened to put runs on the board in the top of the sixth inning when shortstop Iledamaro Vargas led off with a walk. The next batter, Gorkys Hernandez, cracked a single to right field. Leones left fielder Junior Lake made an errant throw that shortstop Gustavo Nunez couldn’t handle, resulting in Vargas going to third base and Hernandez heading to second base with no outs.
Joaquin kept his composure in the top of the sixth and got Alexi Amarista and Rangel Ravelo to fly out, and Jose Rondon grounded out to shortstop Cristhian Adames to get out of the jam and keep the game scoreless.
Cardenales de Lara manager Henry Blanco kept his chips steady on the first base dugout with starting pitcher Max Castillo during the first game of the Caribbean Series on Thursday afternoon.
Blanco called upon relief pitcher Alex Scherff to start the top of the seventh after Castillo threw six solid innings, allowing three hits and striking out two and throwing 70 pitches, with 43 strikes.
The first run of the game did not come until the bottom of the seventh inning, when the Leones’ Francisco Mejia drilled a two-out line drive triple to the right field corner, scoring Jose Marmolejos for a 1-0 lead. A few moments later, during Junior Lake’s at-bat, Mejia came in to score on a wild pitch from Scherff to make it 2-0.
Leones del Escogido reliever Fernando Abad entered the game in the top of the ninth inning and retired the side in order, getting Hernan Perez to fly out to center fielder Luis Liberato for the final out of the game.
The Cardenales de Lara allowed seven hits, two earned runs, one walk and four strikeouts.
How They Got Here – The Leones del Escogido earned a berth into the 2025 Caribbean Series by beating their in-city rival, the Tigres del Licey, in seven games in the 2024-25 LIDOM championship series, earning their 25th league title and their 12th appearance at the Caribbean Series.
The Cardenales de Lara entered the field at the 2025 Caribbean Series on January 26, when they beat the Bravos de Margarita 9-0 in six games of the LVBP best-of-seven championship series at home at Estadio Estadio Antonio Herrera Gutiérrez in Barquisimeto, Venezuela.
The Last Time We Were All Here – El Nido de Los Aguilas, home to the Aguilas de Mexicali franchise in the Liga ARCO Mexicana del Pacifico opened its doors in 1976 and the last time the venue hosted the Caribbean Series in 2009, when the 2008-09 LVBP champion Tigres de Aragua went 5-1 and won the event.
Mexico has hosted the Caribbean Series in Hermosillo in 1974, 1982, 1987, 1992, 1997 and 2013.
The city of Mazatlan has hosted the Caribbean Series in 1978, 1989, 1993, 2005 and 2021. Culiacan held the event in 2001 and 2017 alongside Guadalajara in 2018 as the only times the country has hosted.
The 2024 Liga ARCO Mexicana del Pacífico champion Charros de Jalisco will play their first game of the 2025 Caribbean Series against the 2024-25 Liga de Beisbol Profesional Roberto Clemente champion Indios de Mayaguez of Puerto Rico at 11 p.m. EST at El Nido de los Águilas.
All 2025 Caribbean Series games will be held at El Nido de los Aguilas until the final out of the championship on February 7 at 10 p.m. EST on ESPN Deportes and MLB Network.
Coming Up Next – The 2024-25 Liga ARCO Mexicana del Pacifico champion, Charros de Jalisco under manager Benji Gil will open up their first game of the Caribbean Series tonight at 11 p.m. EST on ESPN Deportes and MLB Network against the 2024-25 Liga de Beisbol Roberto Clemente champion, Indios de Mayaguez with manager Wilfredo “Coco” Cordero at the helm.
The Leones del Escogido will play invitee Japan Breeze at 3:50 p.m. EST on ESPN Deportes and MLB Network tomorrow, and the Cardenales de Lara will play the Charros de Jalisco at 8:50 p.m. EST on ESPN Deportes and MLB Network.
Photo: Francisco Mejia of the Dominican Republic scores ahead of the tag of Venezuela’s Ali Sanchez to give the D.R. a 2-0 lead in the opening game of the 2025 Serie del Caribe. (Photo Courtesy of the CBPC)
