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B a s e b a l l
M e x i c o
Monday,
August 27, 2 0 1 8
MONCLOVA’S
10-GAME WINNING STREAK
SNAPPED
Monclova ace
Josh Lowey pitched six innings of good baseball
but Aguascalientes hurler Nestor Molina was the recipient of one Lowey
mistake
as the Rieleros beat the Acereros, 3-1, in the first game of a Saturday
doubleheader to end Monclova's ten-game Mexican League winning streak. Lowey allowed just two hits with six
strikeouts, but it was a two-run homer by Aguascalientes catcher Carlos
Rodriguez (batting eighth in the Railroaders' order) with two out in
the top of
the second that made the difference. Molina,
who came to Aguascalientes with Ricky Alvarez and Francisco Lugo from
Monterrey
in a trade earlier this month after being dealt to the Sultanes by Dos
Laredos
in July, scattered eight hits over his five frames to go to 3-2 for the
season.
Anthony Carter retired the home team in the bottom of the seventh for
his
seventh save. Lowey tool the loss to
drop to 5-2.
The Acereros
bounced back to win both Saturday's nightcap and
Sunday's getaway game to raise their Fall season record to 37-10, by
far the Liga's
best ledger, and their commanding LMB North lead over second-place
Monterrey
(30-18) by seven-and-a-half games. For
their part, the Sultanes had their own eight-game winning skein before
dropping
a 5-2 home game to Durango on Saturday night. Tijuana has won five in a
row to
pull half a game behind the Sultanes at 29-18 while Dos Laredos sits in
fourth
place at 28-20. With nine games left in
the regular season, all four teams seem likely to advance to the
playoffs as
fifth-place Aguascalientes are four-and-a-half games behind the
Tecolotes at
22-25. Saltillo and Durango barely have
mathematical chances to catch up to Dos Laredos but Union Laguna
(14-34) has
been out of contention for some time now.
Things are much
closer in the LMB South, where only a
half-game separates division leader Yucatan (27-21) from Mexico City
and
Puebla, who are tied for second at 26-21 apiece. Leon
(23-23) is holding fourth but financial
problems may be proving the Bravos undoing as one fan in Guanajuato
tells us
he's heard the team missed a recent payroll, not the way to keep your
clubhouse
happy and motivated.
If that's the
case, Leon is hardly the only team experiencing
such difficulties. Puro Beisbol
columnist Rodrigo Us May authored a recent piece chronicling the woes
of the
eternally-woebegone Tabasco Olmecas, who he says recently missed
meeting their
two-week payroll twice in a row and that owner-brothers Juan Luis and
Carlos
Dagdug have lost interest in the Olmecas and stopped investing in the
team. Fans in Villahermosa appear to have
reached
similar conclusions. After the Olmecas
showed relatively good attendance figures for the Spring season by
finishing
fifth in the LMB with 102,970 fans clicking the turnstiles for 30
games, a home
game Sunday against defending champion Yucatan at Parque Centenario 27
de
Febrero drew just 429 souls to bring the total attendance for the
three-game
set to 2,609. Things may be even worse
in Campeche, where the Piratas had just 602 people in the stands Sunday
for a
home game with Quintana Roo to cap a series in which only 1,980 fans
came out
for three contests against the Tigres, one of the Liga's legacy teams. Attendance has dropped across the Mexican
League from the Spring season, with Tijuana (9,534) the only team
averaging above
7,700 and nine clubs drawing fewer than 3,000 per opening (Campeche
brings up
the rear at 882). Conversely, three
teams averaged over 10,000 during the Spring campaign and only five
teams were
under 3,000 per game, at least implying that the two-season approach
for 2018
isn't selling to fans.
Campeche
(20-28), Quintana Roo (19-29) and Tabasco (18-28)
are all trailing Oaxaca (20-27) among the LMB South also-rans, with the
Guerreros trailing fourth-place Leon by three-and-a-half games after
the weekend. The Tigres helped themselves
with a
three-game sweep in Campeche and have won six of their last ten games,
but two
of their final three series will come against division-leading Yucatan
so
catching up with the Bravos will be a tall order for Fernando
Valenzuela's
squad. Campeche may have the best shot
of at least forcing a single play-in game with Leon because none of the
Piratas' final nine games are against winning teams, but the clock is
ticking
on everyone.
RIENZO HAVING
BIG SEASON FOR
MONCLOVA, ERA UNDER 1.00
While there are
any number of reasons the Monclova Acereros
have been dominating the Mexican League's second season and have to be
considered the postseason favorite to win the city's first LMB pennant,
there's
no question that pitcher Andre Rienzo has to be near the top of the
list. The 6'2" righthander became the
first
Brazilian-born pitcher to reach the majors when he debuted for the
Chicago
White Sox against Cleveland on June 30, 2013 (allowing three runs and
striking
out six Tribe batsmen in a seven-inning start) and while he went on to
go 6-9
over 42 outings for the Chisox and Miami between 2013 and 2015,
expectations
were low for the Sao Paolo native heading into the Fall campaign after
he'd
been out of organized baseball since electing free agency following a
2017
season during which he was 3-0 with a 2.83 ERA for the Padres' AAA
affiliate in
El Paso.
Thus, what has
happened with the 30-year-old righty since
signing with Monclova just as the Fall 2018 season was getting underway
in early
July has been nothing short of remarkable.
Rienzo's record of 4-0 isn't all that eye-opening (although it's
worth
noting he hasn't lost a game since May 6, 2016 when he was pitching for
AAA New
Orleans), but his 0.79 ERA has turned a few heads.
In nine starts, Rienzo has held Acereros
opponents scoreless seven times and if you take away one August 14
outing
against Durango (three earned runs allowed in five innings in his only
start
between August 2 and 21), his ERA would be a mere 0.22.
Rienzo had two starts against Aguascalientes
last week and held the Rieleros scoreless both times over twelve
innings,
including a no-decision in Sunday's 2-1 Monclova eleven-inning win.
What all that
means is that Rienzo is well ahead the
competition for the Liga's ERA crown, with fellow Steelers pitcher
Wilmer Rios
second on the table at 1.97 Jose Oyervides of Dos Laredos third with a
2.25
figure. Small wonder that Monclova's
37-10 record has been largely built on a 2.83 team ERA, making them the
only
LMB club with an ERA below 4.00 (Monterrey's is 4.14) while half are
over
5.00. In a hitter's circuit like the
Mexican League, you're going to win some games with pitching like that. Mexico City's Patrick Johnson finally lost a
game after dropping a 10-4 decision at Oaxaca last Wednesday but his
seven wins
still lead the league, one more than Monterrey's Edgar Gonzalez, who
allowed
one run in six frames in a win at Union Laguna on the same night
Johnson
lost. Enrique Oquendo of Puebla still
leads the loop with 57 strikeouts after striking out three Mexico City
batters
in as many innings Sunday in a 9-4 loss to the Diablos Rojos), but he
has
plenty of company near the top.
Campeche's Orlando Lara is one whiff behind at 56, Jose De Paula
of
Monterrey has 55 K's and Leon's Guillermo Moscoso is three behind
Oquendo at
54. In case you're wondering, three-time
strikeouts champion Josh Lowey of Monclova is tied for seventh with 43
ponchadas. Monterrey closer Wirfin
Obispo had two saves last week to bring his fall total to 13, one more
than
Josh Lueke of Monclova.
Among hitters,
Yucatan centerfielder Leo Heras has cooled
down a bit since he had his batting average at .453 on August 16, but
the
five-time All-Star from Tijuana's .414 still leads the Liga by seven
points
over Oaxaca infielder Yuniesky Betancourt while Mexico City outfielder
Yeison
Asencio is one point behind Betancourt at .406.
Although Felix Perez' home run production has slowed a bit since
his
August 7 trade from Aguascalientes to Monterrey (10 dingers in 28 games
for the
Rieleros, 4 homers in 18 games for the Sultanes), the Cuban first
baseman's 14
roundtrippers are enough to lead the LMB, one more than Saltillo's
Leandro
Castro, Francisco Cordoba of Quintana Roo and Oaxaca's Dustin Geiger. Geiger has belted four homers in eight game
for the Guerreros since being shipped from Durango on August 16 after
representing the Generales in last month's All-Star Game.
Delmon Young of Puebla leads with 54 RBIs in
47 games, two more than Monclova's Francisco Peguero, and Dos Laredos
outfielder Johnny Davis stole four bases against Saltillo last Saturday
to
bring his season total to 22, two more than Tony Campana of
Aguascalientes. Campana has stolen one
base in his last twelve games since August 11.
MONTERREY TO
HOST THREE MLB SERIES IN
2019
Major League
Baseball will return to Monterrey, Mexico in
2019 with three different events, including spring training and
regular-season
games. According to the Ballpark Digest website, the Colorado Rockies
and the
Arizona Diamondbacks will play a pair of Spring Training games on March
9th-10th, the Cincinnati Reds will host the St. Louis Cardinals for a
two-game
regular season set on April 13-14, and the Los Angeles Angels and the
Houston
Astros will play a two-game series on May 4-5.
All games will
be played at Estadio Monterrey, home of the
Sultanes. Ballpark Digest reports that the spring training games in
Monterrey
will be the first of the 2019 international campaign, which will also
include
games in Tokyo, Japan and London, England. Next season’s spanning of
the globe
marks the latest example of the continued collaboration between MLB and
the
Major League Baseball Players Association to promote baseball around
the world.
The Rockies, who
last appeared in Mexico for a Spring
Training contest against the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2015 in
Hermosillo, will
be making their third trip south of the border. Colorado also competed
against
the San Diego Padres on Opening Day in 1999 in Monterrey and again in
Culiacan
in 2001 during Spring Training.
The Diamondbacks
will return to Mexico after appearing in ten
exhibition games from 1998-2015, all played in Hermosillo. Arizona
played the
Milwaukee Brewers in 1998 and 1999, the Angels in 2000, the Oakland
Athletics
in 2001, the Padres in 2002, the Kansas City Royals in 2003, the White
Sox in
2008, Team Mexico in 2009 in advance of the WBC and the Rockies in 2010
and
2015. The Diamondbacks previously participated in MLB’s 2014 Opening
Series in
Australia against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Reds and
Cardinals will be making their first trips to
Mexico for the April regular season series. Cincinnati previously
played an
international three-game set in 2003 against the Montreal Expos in San
Juan,
Puerto Rico.
The Angels will
head south of the border for the first time since
they hosted the D-backs in Hermosillo for an exhibition game in 2000.
The
Angels have previously played internationally in Puerto Rico for a
three-game
series against the Expos in 2003.
The reigning
World Series Champion Houston Astros will make
their third trip to Mexico and their first to the City of Monterrey.
Houston
previously played two exhibition series in Mexico City, one in 2004
against the
Florida Marlins and a second against the Padres in 2016. The Astros
also played
internationally in 2000 with a two-game exhibition series in the
Dominican
Republic against the Boston Red Sox and in 2001 with a two-game
exhibition set
against the Cleveland Indians in Valencia, Venezuela.
From May 4-6,
2018, the Dodgers and the Padres played three
games in Monterrey, drawing a total of 65,116 fans.
(Story originally posted August 24 by
Ballpark Digest)
