The Diablos Rojos del Mexico celebrate with the Copa Zaachila, the LMB championship trophy, after defeating the Sultanes de Monterrey four games to none in the 2024 Serie del Rey. (Photo courtesy Diablos Rojos del Mexico)
For the Sultanes de Monterrey, two runs in the bottom of the ninth snapped a 29-inning scoreless streak, but ultimately, it was too little, too late.
The pair of runs, coming on a one-out RBI single by Asael Sanchez and a bases-loaded ground out by Carlos Soto, were the first runs Monterrey scored since the top of the sixth inning in game one, but the Sultanes couldn’t keep the rally going, as Jose Cardona popped out to second base, with the Diablos’ Robinson Cano hauling in the baseball for the final out of the series. The Diablos won the game 4-2 and the series in a four-game sweep, winning their 17th Liga Mexicana de Beisbol title, capping a historic season that saw the Reds dominate the league.
Game four was the closest that Monterrey has come to being competitive with the Diablos Rojos in the four-game series, which saw them outscored 37-8 over four games and led only once, in game one for one inning.
Again, the Diablos Rojos starting pitching stifled the Sultanes’ bats. Brooks Hall threw seven shutout innings, allowing two hits, striking out seven and walking none, to earn the win. Edwin Fierro threw a scoreless eighth inning, and Tomohiro Anraku allowed two runs in the ninth while finishing out the game and the series.
The Diablos got all four of their runs in the top of the first, with leadoff man Franklin Barreto and Robinson Cano reaching on consecutive singles before Jose Marmolejos’ sixth homer of the playoffs gave the Diablos a 3-0 lead before Monterrey had retired a batter. An RBI single later in the inning by Julian Ornelas scored Juan Carlos Gamboa for a 4-0 lead.
José Marmolejos was named the MVP of the 2024 Serie del Rey by the attending media, with a batting average of .389, one home run and seven RBIs in the series. Marmolejos, a native of Perth Amboy, N.J. who appeared in parts of two Major League Baseball seasons with the Seattle Mariners, led the 2024 LMB Playoffs with 23 RBIs, tied for the lead in homers with six, and had 30 base hits, one short of Alexi Amarista of Oaxaca, who led the playoffs with 31.
The Diablos Rojos del Mexico went 71-19 in the regular season and never faced a real challenge until the third round of the playoffs, when they fell behind the Guerreros de Oaxaca three games to none before winning four consecutive elimination games to advance to the Serie del Rey.
For a team stocked with former Major Leaguers, including 2020 National League Cy Young Award winner Trevor Bauer and 18-year MLB veteran Robinson Cano, bringing a championship to Estadio Alfredo Harp Helu – the first the Diablos had won since 2014, when they played home games at Foro Sol – had been the goal since opening night.
They’ll bring the Copa Zaachila, the trophy for the championship of the LMB, back to Mexico City today, on two separate commercial flights, the latter arriving at Benito Juarez International Airport in the capital around noon.
The fiesta begins tonight at Estadio Alfredo Harp Helu, where fans will celebrate the Diablos’ first title in a decade with the triumphant Reds.
