Junior Lake Sends Toros One Win From LMB Title With Game 5 Homer

Junior Lake hit a go-ahead home run in the ninth inning to give the Toros de Tijuana a 6-5 win over the Olmecas de Tabasco in Game 5 of the 2026 Serie del Rey, sending Tijuana home with a 3-2 series lead and one victory separating the club from the Liga Mexicana de Beisbol championship.

Photo: Courtesy / El Imparcial

The decisive swing capped a game that changed direction repeatedly in Villahermosa. Tijuana built an early four-run advantage, watched Tabasco erase it, then rescued the night with two late solo home runs. Hernán Pérez tied the game in the eighth before Lake broke the 5-5 deadlock in the ninth.

Junior Lake delivers when Tijuana is four outs from falling behind

The Toros controlled the opening innings. Gilberto Celestino doubled to begin the game and scored on a Pérez single for the first run. Tijuana added two more in the second, including a solo home run from Wilmer Flores, before Pérez doubled home another run in the third to make it 4-0.

Tabasco answered immediately. Jasson Atondo launched a two-run homer in the bottom of the third, and the Olmecas tied the game 4-4 an inning later. A fifth-inning run then completed the comeback and gave the home side a 5-4 lead.

That advantage held into the eighth, leaving the Olmecas only four outs away from taking a 3-2 lead in the championship series. Pérez changed the game with a solo home run off Fernando Salas, his fourth hit of the night, to level the score at 5-5.

Lake then stepped in with two outs in the top of the ninth against Francis Peguero and sent the first pitch he saw over the left-field wall. It was the final lead change of the night.

Hernán Pérez produces one of the biggest games of the final

Lake supplied the decisive moment, but Pérez was central to almost everything Tijuana did offensively. He finished 4-for-4 with a home run and three RBIs, driving in runs in the first and third innings before producing the game-tying homer in the eighth.

The late rally also flipped the pressure of the series. Tabasco had just responded to its 2-0 Game 3 loss by winning Game 4, 9-1, behind seven strong innings from Daniel Camarena. That victory had tied the Serie del Rey at two games apiece and guaranteed the championship would return to Tijuana.

Game 5 now changes the purpose of that return. Instead of going home simply to continue the series, the Toros will have their first opportunity to finish it.

Toros return home one win from their third LMB championship

Game 6 is scheduled for Tuesday, September 15 at Toros Mobil Park in Tijuana. A Toros victory would secure the franchise’s third Liga Mexicana de Beisbol championship after its titles in 2017 and 2021.

The Olmecas have no margin left. Tabasco must win Game 6 on the road to force a seventh and deciding game. The club is chasing its second LMB championship and its first since 1993.

The first five games of the final have produced sharp swings in momentum. Tabasco opened the series with a 7-1 road win. Tijuana answered with a 13-2 blowout in Game 2 and a 2-0 shutout in Game 3. The Olmecas then responded with a 9-1 win in Game 4 before Game 5 became the first one-run game of the series.

Why Game 5 may define the 2026 Serie del Rey

The final is not over, but the way Tijuana won Game 5 gives the Toros control of both the standings and the setting. They recovered after losing a four-run lead, survived a Tabasco comeback in a packed road stadium and then received two home runs in the final two innings from veteran hitters.

Brett de Geus retired the Olmecas in order in the bottom of the ninth to preserve the lead, including a strikeout for the final out.

Now the series heads nearly 3,000 kilometers back across Mexico with the championship equation simplified: Tijuana needs one win at home, while Tabasco needs two.