Down 3-1 in the South Zone Series with elimination staring them in the face, Diablos Rojos del México turned to Trevor Bauer on Monday, August 24 — on just four days of rest. He answered with seven full innings: 5 hits, 3 runs, 3 walks, and 7 strikeouts on exactly 100 pitches. Diablos won 11-5 at Estadio Hermanos Serdán, cut the series to 3-2, and forced a Game 6 back at Alfredo Harp Helú. The series still belongs to Pericos — but Bauer made sure it didn’t end Monday night.
How Game 5 Unfolded
Diablos made it clear from the jump that this night would be different. Franklin Barreto hit a solo home run to open the scoring, and Jon Singleton and Julián Ornelas added runs in that same first inning. By the third, Robinson Torres went deep to center field and the scoreboard read 8-1. The offense did the heavy lifting early, giving Bauer all the cushion he needed.
Bauer was touched for all three of his allowed runs in the first and third innings. From the fourth inning on, he locked in — Pericos never crossed the plate again. Seven innings, one hundred pitches, job done.
Why This Game Means More Than the Score
Bauer is no stranger to this rivalry. In his first season with Diablos in 2024, he went 10-0 with 120 strikeouts and a 2.48 ERA — good enough to win the LMB Pitcher of the Year award. He spent 2025 with the Yokohama BayStars in Japan, made a brief stop with the Long Island Ducks, and returned to Diablos on July 3, 2026. Different market, different league, same result.
Earlier in these playoffs against Guerreros de Oaxaca, he won Game 1 with a 1.29 ERA outing across 7.0 innings. Now he’s repeating the pattern: Diablos in trouble, Bauer on the mound, Diablos survives. The real question is whether the team can keep leaning on that script in Game 6 — and potentially Game 7.
The Diablos-Pericos postseason rivalry now spans 13 playoff series. In each of the last three seasons, the team that won this matchup went on to win the LMB title. That puts serious weight on what’s left.
What’s Next
- Pericos lead the series 3-2 and need one more win to advance to the South Zone Final.
- Game 6 is Wednesday, August 26 at Estadio Alfredo Harp Helú in Mexico City.
- If Diablos win, Game 7 goes Thursday, August 27 at the same park.
- If Pericos win, the series is over.
Bauer has used his turn. Whoever takes the ball in Game 6 — or Game 7 if it comes to that — now has an impossibly high bar to clear.
