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B a s e b a l l
M e x i c o
Monday,
August 22, 2022
CHARLES IN
CHARGE: LEONES POWER WAY
TO SOUTH SEMIS
Led by the explosive bat of Art
Charles, Yucatan outlasted Puebla, 20-17, last Wednesday to win their
Mexican
League first round playoff series 4-games-to-2 and advance to the South
Division semifinals against Quintana Roo. By winning two games, the
Pericos
also moved on to face Mexico City in their LMB South semi set.
A former Toronto and Philadelphia
farmhand, the 6’6” Charles crashed a pair of homers in the Leones’
deciding-game win, including a three-run bomb during a six-run eighth
inning
outburst that brought Yucatan back from a 17-14 deficit to the
Parakeets in
Puebla. The two teams combined for 37 runs on 42 hits as 19 pitchers
were used
in the 5-hour, 5-minute marathon. Charles ended the series with five
homers in
six games.
The Leones’
post-series ride to the Mexico City airport for a
flight back to Merida was marred when their bus was attacked and fired
upon
less than ten miles out of Puebla. Two of their buses’ tires were
punctured and
destroyed by rocks as the team was chased by a vehicle with at least
one
occupant firing a gun at them. The National Guard was called and nobody
on the
bus was hurt. While Mexico is beset nationwide by drug cartels, the
attack is
believed to have come from some irate Pericos fans.
The Yucatan
players and coaches showed no lost nerve by
winning the first two games of their next series against rival Quintana
Roo at
home in Merida. The Lions thumped the Tigres, 9-1, in Saturday’s
opener.
Charles’ bat sayed hot with a three-run homer in the top of the fifth
and a run-scoring
single in the sixth. Former Blue Jays and Marlins starter Henderson
Alvarez got
the win by tossing 5.2 innings of 1-run ball and scattering seven hits.
McKenzie Mills took the loss, allowing three runs on two frames.
The Leones needed 12 innings to slip
past the Tigres, 5-4, on Sunday. Charles crushed another three-run
roundtripper
in the bottom of the eighth to turn a 3-1 deficit into a 4-3 lead, but
Alexis
Wilson’s solo blast in the top of the ninth tied it up as the game went
into
overtime. Quintana Roo’s Raul De Los Reyes came out from the bullpen in
the
bottom of the twelfth with two Yucatan runners on and promptly walked
Jose
Martinez to load the bases and then gave Marco Jaime a free pass to
score
Norberto Obeso from third to end what was literally a walk-off win for
the
hosts. Crowds topping 12,000 attended
both contests at Parque Kukulkan. Game Three will be Tuesday night in
Cancun.
Meanwhile, the Mexico City Diablos
Rojos plated 27 runs in winning their first two games against Puebla,
beginning
with Saturday’s 10-6 triumph over the Pericos. The Diablos were up 4-3
before a
six-run fifth inning essentially put the game away. Catcher Julian
Leon, not
ordinarily considered one of the team’s big guns, the the most damage
by
swatting a two-run homer in the third and a three-run clout in the
sixth, both
off Puebla starter Gabriel Ynoa. While starter Jeffry Nino pitched four
innings
of two-run ball, reliever David Huff got the win despite allowing a
counter in
the fifth. Ynoa took the loss by letting in seven runs on eight hits in
four-plus innings (serving up Leon’s second homer after walking Roberto
Ramos
and Juan Carlos Gamboa to start the fifth.
Game Two of the series was a Red
Devils’ 17-7 blowout of Puebla as the home team socked five homers, two
by
Ramos. The former KBO star finished 3-for-5 (adding a double) and drove
in five
runs). Daniel Mercado and Miguel Guzman went deep for the Pericos but
with
Mexico City holding a 13-3 lead after four entradas, it was all
Diablos.
Bernardo Flores’ five innings of 4-run pitching was good enough to be
given the
win while Puebla starter Braulio Torres-Perez somehow lasted long
enough to
allow five runs on two hits and three walks in Mexico City’s 7-run
first before
being yanked with only one out to show for it. Attendance at Estadio
Alfredo
Harp Helo approached 28,000 for the two contests as the series now
shifts to
Puebla for Games Three on Tuesday night.
SULTANES UP 2-0
IN LMB NORTH SEMIS
VS. TECOS
The Monterrey Sultanes topped Dos
Laredos twice in Nuevo Laredo over the weekend to take the reins in
their
Northern Division semifinal playoff series. Both games were played at
Estadio
Nuevo Laredo, a somewhat surprising move because while the 12,000-seat
facility
is much nicer than the Tecolotes usual Mexican home of aging Parque La
Junta,
it sits several miles outside the city and fans tend to stay home
rather that
avoid the risk of running into cartel activity along the way.
Attendance was
over 5,000 both Friday and Saturday, decent crowds compared to La
Junta’s usual
turnout but well below the double-figure audiences at the six other
second-round matchups played in Merida, Mexico City and Tijuana.
Monterrey doubled up the Tecos, 4-2,
in Friday’s Game One after building up a 4-0 lead on RBI singles by
Zoilo
Almonte in the first inning and Jose Cardona in the third, preceding a
homer in
the fourth from Ramiro Pena (who scored on Ali Solis’ sacrifice bunt in
the
sixth. Kennys Vargas and Balbino Fuenmayor put Dos Laredos on the board
with
ron-scoring singles in the seventh but the Tecos couldn’t come any
closer. Yohander Mendez pitched five
shutout innings
for the Sultanes to collect the win as Neftali Feliz notched the save.
Brandon
Brennan was handed the loss after giving up three runs in four frames.
One night later, the Sultanes
grounded the Owls, 9-3, behind the solid start from former Atlanta
hurler Julio
Teheran, who had five 10+ win seasons for the Braves in the 2010’s.
Teheran
allowed just two safeties in six shutout innings to earn the win.
Longtime
independent league reliever Nate Antone was converted into a starter
with the
Tecos this season and while he didn’t pitch badly on Saturday (5
innings, 3
runs), he got no support and was handed a loss in what might’ve been a
winning
effort on another night. Cardona went 5-for-5 with a double and two
runs to
pace the Sultanes batters as the series shifted to Monterrey for the
next two
games.
Defending champion Tijuana and 2020
titleists Monclova have developed a good rivalry over the past few
years, so
it’s no surprise that their LMB North final four series is tied at a
game
apiece. The set opened Friday night in Tijuana as 16,001 fans witnessed
the
visiting Acereros 13-1 throttling of the Toros. Francisco Peguero’s
bases-loaded single drove in Bruce Maxwell with the first run of the
game in
the top of the second and the Steelers built an 8-0 lead before Agustin
Murillo’s solo homer in the bottom of the fifth gave Tijuana their only
run of
the tilt. The Acereros scored runs in six of the nine innings they
batted,
including a 3-run homer from Noah Perio during a five-run fifth. Former Pitcher of the Year Josh Lowey, who
went 4-0 in five late starts for Monclova, allowed one run on five hits
over
six innings for the win while another longtime LMB star, Manny Barreda,
was
shelled for seven runs in 4.1 innings to take the loss for the Toros.
Tijuana bounced back in Game Two
with a 5-4 win on Saturday as another crowd exceeding 16,000 jammed
Estadio
Nacional in the border city. Monclova held a 4-3 lead in the bottom of
the
eighth before RBI singles by Efren Navarro and Murillo put the Bulls on
top.
Closer Fernando Rodney took the ball in the top of the ninth and the
former MLB
All-Star struck out Peguero, Rudy Amador and Keon Broxton on ten
pitches to end
the game with a flourish. The contest was a homer orgy during the first
three
innings, with Felix Perez and Nick Williams going long for TJ while
Addison
Russell belted a lngball and Alex Mejia homered twice for Monclova. The
series
shifted to Monclova for the next two games in the Steel Capital.
RENOVATIONS
APPROVED FOR NAVOJOA
BALLPARK
One of the major accomplishments for
outgoing Mexican Pacific League president Omar Canizales over his 14
years in
office was the construction or modernization of ballparks in all ten
Mex Pac
cities. Although Canizales won’t be sitting behind the big desk when
it’s
completed, the final renovation was approved under his watch earlier
this year
when the governor of Sonora appropriated 65 million pesos ($US3.23
million) for
upgrading Navojoa’s Estadio Manuel “Ciclon” Echeverria, home of the
Mayos.
Navojoa mayor
Mario Martinez Bojorquez made the initial
announcement in January while Sinaloa governor Alfonso Durazo held a
press
conference to that effect in late May. According to Durazo, work was
scheduled
to begin in June and be completed in time for the Mayos’ 2022-23
regular season
home opener on Thursday, October 13 when the Los Mochis Caneros come to
town.
Estadio Echeverria was first opened
on October 7, 1970 and has seated 11,500 spectators since Day One.
Dimensions
are a cozy 378 feet to straightaway center field, 318 feet down both
foul
lines. The ballpark is named after a former local pitcher and is owned
by the
State of Sonora, although it falls under the jurisdiction of the
Navojoa city
government and is both rented and managed by the Mayos under team owner
Victor
Cuevas Valenzuela.
Primary funding
for the renovation was expected to come from
the federal government, which has paid for many such efforts across the
country
under the presidency of lifelong baseball enthusiast Andres Manuel
Lopez
Obrador. According to Marian Millan of the
La Verdad website in Navojoa,
mayor Martinez said federal approval for funding the project was
twofold in its
objective: “One, that it serves the Navojoa Mayos professional sports
team and
also that it provides service to the community in the sports and
cultural
fields.”
Of course, as so
often happens, what is said and what is done
can be two different things in Mexico. While both announcements came
out before
the end of May, there was no information immediately found via online
searches
about the actual progress of renovations to Estadio Manuel “Ciclon”
Echeverria
as of August 22. Guess we’ll all find
out on October 13.
