MEXICO CITY – Needing a win to keep their hopes of a second consecutive Baseball Champions League title alive, the Diablos Rojos del Mexico ate the elephant one bite at a time.
Only twice in the game did the Diablos score more than one run in a single swing of a bat, putting balls in play to advance runners and being opportunistic against the CTBC Brothers defense, which was at times confounded by the windy conditions at Estadio Alfredo Harp Helu, to pull out a 12-4 win capped by a ninth-inning Jon Singleton grand slam and improve to 2-1.
It was the Brothers, though, that struck first, looking for their first win at the BCL against the two-time defending Liga Mexicana de Beisbol champs. Consecutive doubles by Huang Chun Lin and Hsu Shao yu got Huang across the plate for a 1-0 Brothers lead in the top of the first.
The Diablos struck back in the top of the second, tying the game when Ramon Flores scored on a double by Francisco Mejia. Rio Ruiz followed with a two-run homer to give Mexico a 3-1 lead.
In the third, Carlos Sepulveda drew a leadoff walk, advanced to second on Jon Singleton’s single to right field and then scored on a double by Maikel Franco. An inning later, Mejia doubled again to lead off the fourth, then scored all the way from first when Chung Shr Lin couldn’t handle Ruiz’s hot grounder at second, having the ball carom out of his glove and into the outfield.
The Brothers battled back, getting a solo homer from Su Wei Ta in the fourth, and a sac fly by Huang Chun Lin scored Chung Shr Lun to make it a 5-3 game.
In the top of the sixth, Bryan Gonzalez launched a leadoff homer over the bullpen in left field that landed on the walkway midway up the bleachers, giving the Diablos a 6-3 lead.
Lin Jui Chun punched back for the Brothers in the sixth, hitting a solo homer to right that cut the lead to 6-4.
Clinging to a two-run lead, the Diablos got a leadoff single from Bryan Gonzalez to start the eighth, and Carlos Sepulveda followed with a single. Both runners advanced on Moises Gutierrez’ ground out back to the box, giving the Diablos runners at second and third with one out, when Jose Marmolejos hit a grounder to short. Brothers shortstop Yang Shiang He fired home trying to get Gonzalez, but his throw went to the backstop, and it was 7-4. Up came Jon Singleton, and his high pop fly to short was blown around by the wind until Yang couldn’t get it, giving the Reds runners at the corners. Maikel Franco followed with a sac fly to center that scored Sepulveda to make it 8-4.
With the bases loaded in the top of the ninth, Jon Singleton homered to dead center field, his shot clearing the 410-foot marker in the deepest part of the ballpark, to make it 12-4 Diablos.
The Diablos got 3 2/3 innings from starter Ricardo Pinto, who allowed two runs on three hits. Pinto handed the ball off to Nick Vespi, who won five games during the Diablos’ run to the 2025 LMB title, and from there, the bullpen stifled CTBC, holding them to just two runs on five hits and a walk over 5 1/3 innings. Shane Greene, competing for a starting spot with the Diablos, allowed one run on the homer by Lin over three innings in relief, and Tomohiro Anraku closed out the win.