The 67^th Caribbean Series kicked off on Friday at Estadio Nido de las ?guilas in Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico, with the Dominican Republic¡¯s Leones del Escogido, managed by Albert Pujols, defeating Venezuela¡¯s Cardenales de Lara, 2-0.

Friday¡¯s second game in the tournament of winter league champions, between the host country¡¯s Charros de Jalisco and Puerto Rico¡¯s Indios de Mayag¨¹ez, ended in an 8-1 win for Mexico.

Runs were at a premium in what turned out to be a collective pitching duel in Friday¡¯s first game, with starter Brooks Hall (five innings, three hits, three strikeouts, no walks), Ulises Joaqu¨ªn, Alex Colom¨¦, Joe Corbett and Fernando Abad giving up just five hits total in a combined shutout for the Dominican squad. Colom¨¦ was the winning pitcher with a scoreless seventh inning, while Abad notched the save with a 1-2-3 ninth.

On the Venezuelan side, starter M¨¢ximo Castillo handcuffed a Dominican Republic lineup that included Robinson Can¨®, Francisco Mej¨ªa and Christian Adames with six shutout innings of three-hit ball.

The only runs in the game came in the bottom of the seventh, when former MLB catcher Mej¨ªa drove in Jos¨¦ Marmolejos with an RBI triple off Cardenales reliever Alex Scherff. Later in the inning, Mej¨ªa would score on a wild pitch by Scherff, who took the loss in one inning of work.

Now with a 1-0 record in the elimination stage of the tournament, the Leones will face Japan Breeze on Saturday, which will mark the debut for Japan in the history of the Caribbean Series. At 0-1, the Cardenales, with former MLB catcher Henry Blanco at the helm, will face the Charros in Saturday¡¯s second game.