An early run was all the Leones del Escogido needed to capture their second consecutive LIDOM title.
Eight Leones del Escogido pitchers combined to throw nine scoreless innings to make the lone run scored in the game, which came on a ground out by Junior Lake that scored Hector Rodriguez, be enough, as the Leones claimed a 1-0 win in Game 5 of the LIDOM championship series and a return ticket to the Caribbean Series.
Rodriguez led off the bottom of the first with a single, and Erik Gonzalez followed with a single of his own. Each advanced one base on Eloy Jimenez’ ground out to first, and did so again when Lake grounded out to first, getting Rodriguez home.
¡Llegó la primera carrera del @EscogidoBBClub! #SerieFinalLIDOM #CopaBanreservas pic.twitter.com/VLwXftbJ4e
— LIDOM (@LIDOMRD) January 27, 2026
And from there, the Leones pitching clawed away at the Toros.
Starter Grant Gavin gave the Leones 3 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and walking two before handing the ball off to the bullpen, which allowed four hits and two walks over 5 1/3 innings, and twice escaped situations where the tying run was 90 feet away from home.
In the sixth, the Toros had their best chance to tie the game when Eloy Jimenez led off with a triple. But after giving up the triple to Jimenez, Leones reliever Derek West got Eric Filia to line out to right field, and Jimenez didn’t test the arm of Leones right fielder Junior Lake. West fanned Yairo Munoz and then Jefry Yan came in to face the dangerous bat of Eddie Rosario. Two sinkers and a slider later, Rosario was back in the dugout. Yan was awarded the win by the official scorer, having been judged as the most effective relief pitcher.
Jefry Yan strikes out Eddie Rosario to strand the tying run at 3rd and Leones del Escogido is now 9 outs away from back-to-back LIDOM championships (up 3-1 in best-of-7 series) pic.twitter.com/4J4uclD3FG
— Céspedes Family BBQ (@CespedesBBQ) January 28, 2026
Two innings later, Jimenez drew a one-out walk and advanced to third on a single by Eric Filia, but again the Toros couldn’t get Jimenez home.
On came Matt Foster for the ninth, who induced fly outs from Rosario, Eddie Urbaez, and Jeimer Candelario for a perfect ninth inning and his third save in the LIDOM postseason to end the game and the series.
¡ASÍ FUE COMO LOS LEONES SE CORONARON CAMPEONES! #SerieFinalLIDOM #CopaBanreservas pic.twitter.com/gnuyNwLDDL
— LIDOM (@LIDOMRD) January 28, 2026
Alcides Escobar, who joined the Leones as a reinforcement before the round robin to make his first appearance in LIDOM, was named the series MVP, batting .333 through five games with a homer, a run scored, and five RBIs.
The next stop for the Leones is Guadalajara, where they will play in the Caribbean Series from Feb. 1-7. Expect several players from the Toros and elsewhere around LIDOM to join the club as reinforcements for the Caribbean Series.
Photo: The Leones del Escogido celebrated with the Copa Banreservas after winning hteir second consecutive LIDOM title. (Photo courtesy of LIDOM)
