The 67th edition of the Caribbean Series kicked off on Friday at the Estadio Nido de las Águilas in Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico, with Albert Pujols' Leones del Escogido defeating Venezuela's Cardenales de Lara 2-0.

Friday's second match was played by hosts Mexico's Charros de Jalisco against Puerto Rico's Indios de Mayagüez, which Mexico won 8-1.

In the first game, the two sides staged a pitcher battle with few scoring opportunities. Dominican starting pitcher Brooks Hall threw five innings without conceding points, hitting just three hits and making three strikeouts and no warranties. Ulises Joaquín, Alex Colomé, Joe Corbett and Fernando Abad teamed up to complete a five-run finish. Colomé made the winning shot with a clean pitch in the seventh inning, while Abad came to the rescue with a perfect 1-2-3 in the ninth inning.

Venezuela's starting pitcher, Máximo Castillo, also had a great performance, throwing six innings without conceding and only three hits, successfully suppressing the Dominican team's line, which included Robinson Canó, Francisco Mejía and Christian Adames.

The only score of the game came in the bottom half of the seventh inning, when former major league catcher Mejía hit a three-run home with a one-point bout against Cardinals backup pitcher Alex Scherff and sent back to José Marmolejos. Mejía then ran back to home plate to score on a wild shot from Shev. Cheff took responsibility for the loss in this inning.

The Lions, who currently lead the knockout stages with a 1-0 record, will face Japan Breeze on Saturday in what will also be Japan's first ever Caribbean Series. And the 0-1 Cardinals, coached by former major league catcher Henry Blanco, will face the Cavalry in Game 2 on Saturday.