Take a look: Isotopes' Cinco de Mayo game attracts second largest MILB crowd this season

May 5—Ramon Serna will be hearing about this one for awhile.

Walking into Isotopes Park on Sunday afternoon around 3:30 p.m. — he and his girlfriend both donning the festive, colorful Mariachis jerseys given away by the Isotopes at last year's Cinco de Mayo game — something was off.

Serna and his girlfriend had hoped to arrive early to get in line for this year's Mariachi jersey giveaway, on Cinco de Mayo no less, but there were no lines.

"Where is everyone?" he asked, as the the sound of Al Hurricane Jr.'s pregame concert could be heard for blocks surrounding the ball park.

When they were told Sunday's game didn't start at 6:35 — a usual start time for a weekday game — but instead had a very festive start time — the game on 5/05 started at 5:05 in the 505 — Serna got the look from his girlfriend.

"Isn't the time right there on your phone?" she asked him, referring to the couple's tickets which were on Ramon's phone.

"Don't worry, maybe they still have some jerseys left," he said, knowing his fate had already been sealed.

Not a chance. The Mariachi jerseys available for free to the first 3,000 fans were long gone, taken by those who had been standing in line since the morning. In fact, the pregame line on the first-base side stretched to the large Duke City BMX bicycle park beyond the right field fences; and on the third-base side stretched well into the area of Central New Mexico College.

The Cinco de Mayo party on Sunday was another success for the Isotopes, which drew an announced crowd of 12,011 — the largest home crowd this season and the second largest Minor League Baseball crowd in the country this season.

Last year's Friday night Cinco de Mayo game drew 15,817 fans, which was the second largest MILB crowd in the country in 2023.

For the second Cinco de Mayo in a row, the Isotopes played as the wildly popular Mariachis de Nuevo Mexico alter ego, also offering one of the season's most coveted giveaways in the Mariachis jersey (this year modeled after an actual mariachis jacket) and also offering a pregame concert by Hurricane (who was the inspiration for this year's jersey design).

In 2018, minor league baseball started the Copa de la Diversión initiative asking teams to come up with an alternate name and branding for a game to help connect with the local Hispanic/Latino community.

General Manager John Traub and the franchise sought advice from community leaders and the Hispano Chamber of Commerce to make sure the alter ego helped celebrate New Mexico community and culture.

And the Mariachis de Nuevo Mexico, which the team now plays as six times a year, were born.

"Our goal was to do more than just rebrand the team as the Mariachis for a handful of nights," Traub said.

"Mariachi music is the soundtrack of people's lives, certainly in this community and throughout New Mexico. From quinceañeras to graduations, from birthdays and weddings and other celebrations, mariachi music is embedded into the life in our community. And so is baseball. We wanted to transform the fan experience, which was already an outstanding one, into a fiesta that would elevate the atmosphere and engagement with our fans inside this building."

The games have evolved into full-on parties — a New Mexico backyard party at its finest — with mariachi bands, Hurricane's pregame concerts and dancers on the concourse before and during games.

It's plenty of fun regardless of what the scoreboard shows. On Sunday, it was an 11-1 loss to Round Rock, the Isotopes in the midst of a 3-9 stretch to tie their worst-ever record in a 12-game homestand.

"I would rather they won more," Gene Gutierrez, a 74-year-old, longtime fan of the Isotopes — and Dukes before that — said. "But, games like this, especially when you come with the family, it's nice when they do things like this to just make it a fun day to come to where there's also baseball."

SUNDAY: Three Chupacabras — the alter ego of the Round Rock Express — had three-hit nights and four drove in multiple runs in an 11-1 win over the Mariachis de Nuevo Mexico at Isotopes Park. The announced crowd of 12,011 were treated to a postgame fireworks show, a pregame Al Hurricane Jr. concert and much more off the field, but the Isotopes bats were pretty silent. CF Sam Hilliard and 2B Coco Montes each had two-hit games for Albuquerque with Montes recording his second triple of the season.

The loss gives the Isotopes (9-24) a 3-9 record over the 12-game homestand they just completed, tied for the worst record ever in a 12-game homestand.

FIREWORKS: Sunday's game was played in 2 hours, 45 minutes — longer than an average Triple-A game in the pitch clock era, but not long enough for the Albuquerque sky to be dark enough game's end set off the scheduled postgame fireworks show.

Al Hurricane Sr. videos were played on the videoboard and several Isotopes players brought their kids out on the field, many running the bases to fans' delight.

GIMMIE A BREAK: Sunday brought to an end a rare 12-game, 13-day homestand for the Isotopes. But it was even longer for those working at Isotopes Park.

Dating to the April 20 and 21 Savannah Bananas games played at Rio Grande Credit Union Field Park, many of the workers around the park — food vendors, ushers, ticket office, grounds crew, parking attendants, security, etc. — have worked 15 of the past 16 games, if not more (there's never really a day off for the grounds crew).

Monday, as the Isotopes hit the road for their six-game road series against the El Paso Chihuahuas that starts on Tuesday night, those around the ball park will get a well-earned day off.

SPEAKING OF: For those scoring at home, and who wouldn't know details like this, the longest homestand in Isotopes history was a 14 game in 13 days stretch from Aug. 21 through Sept. 2, 2010. That stretch included two doubleheaders — one scheduled, one necessitated by a game being rained out in the middle of the homestand.