Tigers honor Venezuela with special guest calling final out

The Tigers beat the Astros in a resounding 8-0 win on Friday night in Detroit, and there was a final moment that brought even more significance beyond the baseball field.

As Enmanuel De Jesus closed out the victory, the Tigers' broadcast, led by Jason Benetti, brought on Detroit’s Spanish-language radio play-by-play announcer Carlos Guillén to make the final call. Guillén -- who is from Venezuela and was the press officer for the country during the 2023 and ‘26 World Baseball Classic -- made the final call for what was an all-Venezuelan pitching performance from Keider Montero (seven innings) and De Jesus (two innings).

It has been a heavy week for Venezuela, which experienced debilitating earthquakes on Wednesday that led to hundreds of deaths and thousands of injuries. For a country so obsessed with the sport -- Venezuela, of course, stunned Team USA to claim its first WBC title this year -- the impact has been pronounced across MLB.

Venezuela’s manager and Astros bench coach Omar López was one of the first MLB players or coaches to speak about the country’s earthquakes.

“It’s really hard for me to talk,” López said on Thursday. “After almost three-plus months and a happiest day for our country, now we have to go through this.”

Giants rookie Victor Bericoto, who is from Venezuela, felt this impact directly. He hit a dramatic walk-off homer on the same night he learned of the news from Venezuela. The next day, Bericoto found out that his brother’s girlfriend had been killed in the deadly earthquakes.

Milwaukee’s William Contreras, who starred for Venezuela at this year’s WBC, wore catcher’s gear and batting gloves for Friday’s game, rocking the bright yellow, blue and red colors of the Venezuelan flag.

Many of the teams, including the Dodgers and Padres, wore “VZ” on the sides of their hats on Friday.