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M e x i c o
Monday,
January 16, 2023
CANEROS,
GUASAVE ONE WIN AWAY FROM LMP TITLE SERIES
When it comes to listing traditional
powers in the Mexican Pacific League, neither the Los Mochis Caneros nor the
Guasave Algodoneros are placed high on that table. Now in their 61st LMP season
but with a team history dating back to 1947, the Caneros have won but three
titles (1968-69, 1983-84 and 2002-03) and entered the current season on the
heels of two consecutive last-place finishes in the playoff points race.
The Algodoneros entered the Mex Pac
in 1965 but over 53 seasons (minus a five-year absence between 2014 and 2019
after the original version of the Cottoneers were sold and moved to
Guadalajara), they have just a 1971-72 title to show. While they've been more
competitive in recent years, the Algodoneros have rarely been considered a
contender.
That's partly why when the Mex Pac
season opened in October, nobody would've predicted a Los Mochis-Guasave
championship series this month. However, after Monday's games, it's a distinct
possibility as both clubs stand one win away from semifinal triumphs heading
into their respective Game Sixes on Wednesday night.
Despite absorbing two straight road
losses in Obregon, including a vicious 15-1 pounding in Obregon Sunday night
that saw the Yaquis belt five homers after scoring just four runs over the
first three games, Los Mochis still leads that series 3-games-to-2 heading back
home to Estadio Emilio Ibarra Almada on Wednesday. Victor Mendoza belted two
roundtrippers Sunday while Sebastian Valle, Dariel Alvarez and Jose Figueroa
each cracked homers for the Yaquis in their 15-1 laugher, with Figueroa's blast
a pinch-hit grand slam off veteran reliever Fredy Quintero in the seventh.
Monday's Game Five didn't feature
nearly as much fireworks but Obregon still pulled out a 6-3 home win over the
Caneros to continue keeping the series alive. Leadoff batter Allen Cordoba
lined Los Mochis starter Nick Struck's first pitch of the game into the left
field seats in the bottom of the first to give Obregon an early 1-0 lead. The
Yaquis built their advantage to 4-0 in the fourth on consecutive two-out RBI
singles by Juan Carlos Gamboa and Valle.
Juan Uriarte's two-run homer for the
Caneros off Manny Barreda in the top of the fifth cut the Yaquis' lead in half
and a run-scoring single by Justin Dean in the sixth made it a 4-3 contest, but
Yadir Drake stroked an RBI double and later scored on Maikel Serrano's
groundout in the seventh to put Obregon up 6-3 and close the scoring. Barreda
earned his second playoff win while Struck lost for the first time in three
decisions.
In the other LMP semi series,
Guasave held a 4-2 lead over Hermosillo in the bottom of the seventh during
Sunday's Game Four at home when play was halted by umpires due to fog. After
the game resumed Monday, the Naranjeros loaded the bases twice in the top of
the ninth inning with one out, but only scored one run on a Cardona sacrifice
fly before reliever Felipe Arredondo recorded the last two outs by striking out
Alejandro Mejia and inducing the dangerous Nick Torres to loft a fly ball to
Elizalde in right with the sacks full to end Game Five to knot the series at
two games apiece.
Monday's Game Five nightcap was no
less dramatic as what began as a pitching duel between Hermosillo's Tyler
Alexander and Geno Encina of Guasave ended in a 1-0 Algodoneros win. In the
bottom of the fourth, Alan Lopez singled and Jose Heberto Felix doubled with
two out before Alexander (who was 4-11 for Detroit last season) was pulled with
finger blisters. His replacement, Luis Marquez, bounced a 2-2 wild pitch to
Julian Ornelas off the right foot of catcher Cesar Salazar into foul territory,
allowing Lopez to scamper home from third with the lone run of the game. That
was all Encina would need for his first playoff win, going six innings and
allowing only a Salazar double in the second. Alexander took the loss for
Hermosillo, which entered the postseason as the top seed among eight teams.
Both Game Sixes on Wednesday will
start at 9:30PM Eastern. In Los Mochis, the Caneros will send Pitcher of the
Year Luis Miranda to the mound against Obregon's reinforcement from Mazatlan,
Brazilian Braulio Torres-Perez, who finished third in POY voting. Hermosillo
will host Game Six in the other semi as two-time POY Elian Leyva climbs the
hill to face Guasave's Matt Pobereyko, a first-time starter after nine pro
seasons as a reliever who led the LMP with 73 strikeouts en route to a 6-2
record and 2.05 ERA.
GUASAVE
LEADS HERMOSILLO, 3 GAMES TO 2
Wed, 1/11:
HERMOSILLO 8, Guasave 1
(Roel Santos went 3-for-4 with a run and 3 RBIs to support Tyler Alexander's
5.2 innings of pitching with 8 K's for the Naranjeros)
Thu, 1/12:
Guasave 4, HERMOSILLO 3
(Esteban Quiroz homered twice for the Algodoneros but a Sebastian Elizalde
single in the 8th drove in Julian Ornelas with the go-ahead run)
Sat, 1/14:
Hermosillo 2, GUASAVE 1
(Wilmer Rios tossed 7 shutout innings as Irving Lopez and Jasson Atondo
contributed RBI singles; Joey Terdoslavich homered late for Guasave)
Sun-Mon,
1/15-16: GUASAVE 4, Hermosillo 3 (Sebastian
Elizalde homered and singled for Guasave in game that took two days to complete
after fog suspended play Sunday night)
Mon, 1/16:
GUASAVE 1, Hermosillo 0
(Former Toronto minor leaguer Geno Encina allowed 1 hit over 6 shutout innings
for Algodoneros, striking out 5 and walking 3)
LOS
MOCHIS LEADS OBREGON, 3 GAMES TO 2
Wed, 1/11:
LOS MOCHIS 2, Obregon 1
(Fabian Cota and Nick Struck combined for 7 IP of 1-run ball but it took
Yasmany Tomas' RBI single in the sixth to plate the game-winning run)
Thu, 1/12:
LOS MOCHIS 2, Obregon 1
(Tomas' grounder to SS Juan Carlos Gamboa was mishandled, allowing Isaac
Rodriguez to score from third in walkoff fashion in the 10th)
Sat, 1/14:
Los Mochis 3, OBREGON 2
(Fernando Villegas walked with bases loaded off Alberto Leyva to force in
winning run in the 12th, one of 3 Leyva BBs allowed that frame)
Sun, 1/15:
OBREGON 15, Los Mochis 1
(Victor Mendoza clubbed 2 HRs and had 4 RBIs and Jose Figueroa hit pinch grand
slam in support of Arturo Lopez' 6 IP of 1-run ball)
Mon, 1/16:
OBREGON 6, Los Mochis 3
(Yadir Drake was 3-for-4 with a double, 2 RBIs and a run while Allen Cordoba
homered, doubled and scored twice for the Yaquis)
MIRANDA OUTDUELS RIOS FOR LMP PITCHER OF THE YEAR
Los Mochis right-handed pitcher Luis
Miranda edged out Wilmer Rios of Hermosillo in voting among teams, media and
fans for the Vicente "Huevo" Romo Trophy as the Mexican Pacific
League's Pitcher of the Year for 2022-23. In the closest balloting among awards
announced thus far, Miranda beat Rios by five percentage points from among six
hurlers who received votes based on their respective performances during the
regular season.
The 28-year-old Miranda, a
Hermosillo native who had briefly been a teammate of Rios' with the Naranjeros
two previous winters, went 5-1 over 12 starts and was the Mex Pac's leader in
effectiveness with a sparking 1.07 ERA. He was also the league's WHIP leader at
0.87 while also achieving 56 strikeouts in a total of 67 innings pitched.
Miranda started off with a bang by pitching 36.1 innings before allowing an
earned run at the beginning of the season.
Despite having spent three years in
Atlanta's minor league system and earlier pitching bits and pieces of three
seasons with the Naranjeros and Guasave, Miranda was chosen Rookie of the Year
in the 2020-2021 campaign as a member of the Algodoneros after going 8-2 with a
3.86 ERA in 11 starts. He's the Caneros' fifth Pitcher of the Year and the
first to win the award since Yoanys Quiala in 2019-20.
Miranda obtained 40 percent of the
weighted vote by team front offices, media members and fans, leaving second
place for Ríos at 35 percent. Third place went to Braulio Torres-Perez of
Mazatlan (11%), followed by votes for Guasave's Matt Pobereyko (8%), Eduardo
Vera of Mexicali (4%) and Pobereyko's Cottoneers moundmate Geno Encina (2%).
Rios had a legitimate claim for POY
honors after a winter during which he led the MLP with nine wins (nobody else
had more than seven), finished third with a 1.86 ERA (Torres-Perez was second
at 1.49), tossed one of the LMP's two complete game shutouts (Obregon's Arturo
Lopez' no-hitter was the other), was second to Miranda with a 0.90 WHIP and
allowed just 1.1 walks per nine innings to come in second to Kurt Heyer of
Culiacan's 0.9.
The only award remaining to be
announced is the Hector Espino Trophy for Most Valuable Player. The six players
nominated for that honor are Miranda, Rios, outfielders Yasmany Tomas and
Justin Dean (both of Los Mochis) and infielders Victor Mendoza (Obregon) and
batting champ Roberto Valenzuela (Monterrey).
PUEBLA
HIRES HECTOR HURTADO AS SKIPPER FOR 2023
The Puebla Pericos Board of
Directors have announced the appointment of Héctor Hurtado as manager for the
2023 campaign. Hector Estrada and Miguel Angel Lopez also join the Pericos
coaching staff along with holdovers Russel Vázquez, Gilberto Sotomayor, Eduardo
Ríos, Jorge Luis Loredo, Ignacio Vargas, Marco Duarte and Humberto Rojas.
A 51-year-old native of Navojoa,
Hurtado spent 22 years as a catcher in the Mexican League before retiring after
the 2011 season. Beginning in 1989, he donned the tools of ignorance for
(drawing deep breath) Leon, Minatitlan (twice), Mexico City Tigres, Monterrey
(twice), Campeche (twice), Union Laguna, Cancun, Monclova (twice), Dos Laredos,
Tijuana, Puebla, Chihuahua (twice), Nuevo Laredo, Laguna and Quintana Roo. Over
the 831 LMB games the baseball-reference website has stats for, Hurtado hit for
a .253 average with 53 homers and 283 RBIs. Not being a speed merchant at 6'1”
and 230 pounds, he was caught stealing all seven times his attempts were
recorded.
Hurtado was smiling during the
formal announcement of his hiring and declared it to be the most important day
of his career, thanked the entire Board for the opportunity. "I know that
there were many important people considered for this position and they decided
on me. I am very grateful. I have a lot of commitment to the fans and the
Board."
Pericos vice president Alfonso López
was in charge of the press conference announcing the hiring of Hurtado as
manager and said, “Héctor Hurtado is a graduate of the Pasteje Academy and a
lover and strategist of the game, as he has shown us in the last two years.
Since I've known him, he has shown a great responsibility towards our beautiful
game.
“I compare him, with all due
respect, with a wise man of this game, Don Jorge Calvo. Hurtado develops
baseball players, he has full knowledge of our organization from below. All the
guys who are going to debut and have already debuted, he knows them perfectly.
His commitment to the organization led us to think a lot about him to be the
new manager.”
Hurtado has directed the
Pericos in the Mexican Winter League the last two years, obtaining great
results by reaching the Serie del Principe both occasions and being crowned in
the last edition.
Previously, he managed the
Reynosa Broncos (2016) and Quintana Roo Tigres (2018) in the Mexican League. As
an active baseball player, he wore the flannel of the Pericos in the 2005
season. Hurtado will replace Willie Romero at the helm in Puebla.
Romero was fired on December 15, exactly one year after his 2021 hiring. In his lone year as Pericos dugout boss, the Venezuelan led the team to a 48-39 record in 2022, good enough for third place in the LMB South and a playoff berth. However, the Parakeets were knocked out in the first postseason round by eventual Serie del Rey champion Yucatan and in a league where many owners have the highest (and often unrealistic) of expectations, a playoff series loss can undo everything accomplished during the regular season.