Jermaine Palacios homered twice and Ricardo Pinto pitched five scoreless innings to lead Venezuela to an 8-4 victory against Mexico, closing the first day at Estadio Panamericano in Guadalajara.
"Winning the first game takes on double importance because it was against the host team," added Lopez. "The key, is the pitching. And obviously, Ricardo Pinto did an excellent job over five innings."
Pinto struck out six against three walks in five innings of work, allowing three hits and setting the tone for a Venezuelan team that seemed unstoppable in the first half of the game.
"We had to pull him after the fifth inning because the top of the sixth inning stretched out with the five-minute break, plus we scored a few runs," Lopez explained. "And that's what sets the pace. As long as our pitching gives us a chance, we have the offence to produce runs."
Venezuela jumped ahead in the second inning of the game. Palacios blasted an opposite field home run off a 91-MPH pitch by Manny Bañuelos to give Venezuela a 1-0 lead. The Vinotinto kept going with a two-run double by Diego Castillo to plate Herlis Rodriguez and Francisco Arcia.
Bañuelos worked 1.2 innings giving up three hits, three runs and two walks, while striking out two.
"These games must be played as if they were game six or seven of a final, every single game. That’s why I pulled him (Bañuelos) in the second inning," said Benjamin Gil, Mexico's manager. "I never expected to have to use a pitcher in the second inning. He had, if I’m not mistaken, 52 pitches, and the outs were also well-hit balls. So, they were making good contact, so I brought in César Gómez to stop the bleeding."
However, the Venezuelan squad then got an 8-0 lead in the following three innings, with a double by Ramon Flores in the fifth, a three run rally in the sixth and a Palacios solo shot in the seventh inning, his second of the night.
"I am aggressive in the batter’s box, but I try to control my emotions," explained Palacios. "I think that anxiety to go after pitches was something I was able to control today, thank God, and the results came out the best way."
Mexico reacted in the bottom of the seventh with Alan Trejo hitting a homer to right field off reliever Ederson Franco to put the host team on the scoreboard. Chris Carter followed him with a blast of his own in the eight, while in the ninth Mexico scored two on a two-run single by Jose Rojas. But the effort was not enough for a comeback.
"This is baseball; the best team doesn’t always win, but rather the team that plays better or plays less poorly," said Gil. "And that’s what happened today: they played well, we played poorly, and we were still very close to winning or tying the game."
