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M e x i c o
Monday,
January 23, 2023
LOS MOCHIS TAKES 2-TO-0 LEAD OVER GUASAVE IN LMP TITLE
SET
The Los Mochis Caneros continued
their surprising quest for a Mexican Pacific League pennant with a pair of
weekend home wins over Guasave heading into three scheduled midweek games at
the Algodoneros' Estadio Francisco Carranza Limon. The Caneros finished last in
the LMP playoff points race in 2020-21 and 2021-22 prior to this winter, where
they stand poised to win just their fourth title since their 1947 formation and
first since the 2002-03 season. For their part, Guasave seeks the second
pennant of that city's existence as an LMP franchise site beginning in 1965
(their first came in 1971-72).
Saturday's Game One was a 9-6
slugfest during which the Caneros broke open a 1-1 contest with six runs in the
bottom of the fourth, highlighted by a three-run homer by DH Juan Uriarte off
Guasave starter Nico Tellache, who'd pitched one-run ball through three frames
but did not survive the Los Mochis onslaught in the fourth. Tellache absorbed
both the beatdown AND the loss, giving up five runs on five hits and two walks
in 3.1 entradas, striking out four.
Manny Barreda only fared slightly
better as the Caneros opener, tossing four innings of one-run ball himself (the
one run coming on an Esteban Quiroz solo homer in the second) before being
chased during a four-run Algodoneros fifth that saw Sebastian Elizalde take him
deep for another three-run bomb on what proved to be the last pitch the veteran
lefty would throw. Fabian Cota came in and registered the third out. The
Caneros scored twice more in the bottom of the fifth to make it a 9-4 lead that
was never threatened. Uriarte finished with a 3-for-4 night for four RBIs and
two runs scored. Elizalde went 3-for-5 for the Cottoneers in a losing cause as
Cota's one inning of relief work was enough to be awarded the win.
Things were a little tighter for
Sunday's Game Two as the Caneros scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the
ninth for a 3-2 walkoff win over the visitors. Longballs factored in this one,
starting with Joey Terdoslavich's line-drive roundtripper off Caneros starter
Nick Struck in the top of the second to give Guasave a 1-0 lead. It would prove
to be the only run Struck allowed in four innings and when he left after six
inning, the game was tied at 1-1 thanks to a run-scoring Uriarte single in the
bottom of the fourth that knotted the score. That was the only run Guasave
starter Jeff Kinley gave up in seven innings as the former Marlins minor
leaguer continued to show his move out of the bullpen after ten years as a
reliever is working.
The score remained at 1-1 until the
top of the ninth, when the Algodoneros nudged ahead on an Alejandro Ortiz
double off Carlos Vazquez scored Juan Carlos Gamboa from second. However, fate
proved a cruel mistress to Guasave closer Brandon Koch, whose third pitch to
leadoff batter Roberto Valenzuela was redirected over the wall in left-center
for a homer that brought the Caneros back even at 2-2. Then, with two down and a
1-0 count on Rudy Amador, the veteran third sacker smoked a Koch offering for a
line-drive circuit clout to left that ended the game and sent a second straight
sellout crowd of 11,662 at Estadio Emilio Ibarra Almada home with smiles on
their faces.
Game Three is slated for Tuesday
night at 8:30PM local time. Pitcher of the Year Luis Miranda will open on the
mound for Los Mochis while Guasave will send Geno Encina to the hill. Miranda
is 1-0 with a 3.38 ERA in four playoff starts for the Caneros while Encina has
won one of three starts with a 3.60 ERA for the Algodoneros.
The two teams reached the LMP title
series with respective Game Six wins last Wednesday. Los Mochis topped Obregon,
5-2 at home behind the solid pitching of Miranda, who allowed one run on one
hit with six strikeouts over six innings. The Yaquis opened the scoring in the
top of the third when Dariel Alvarez launched a solo homer off Miranda, but the
Caneros fought back to take the lead with a three-run fifth during which Wagner
Lagrange singled in Uriarte with the go-ahead run and later scored on Isaac
Rodriguez' safety.
Obregon scored a single tally in the
seventh when Yadir Drake scored from second on a Victor Mendoza one-bagger but
Los Mochis put the contest away one inning later when reinforcement Valenzuela,
the LMP batting leader, belted a two-run homer. Miranda got the win for the
Caneros while Braulio Torres-Perez took the loss after letting in three runs
over five innings.
Strong pitching made all the
difference in Wednesday's other Game Six, this time a 2-0 Guasave shutout in
Hermosillo that closed out that series, 4 games to 2. Mex Pac strikeouts
champion Matt Pobereyko tossed seven beautiful innings, allowing just two hits
and no walks with five strikeouts to take the win home for the Algodoneros, who
qualified for their first LMP championship series since 2011-12.
Jesse Castillo socked a two-run
homer to center in the top of the seventh off Hermosillo starter Elian Leyva as
the Cottoneers pitching staff held the potent Naranjeros scoreless over the
final 18 innings of the series. Leyva, a two-time Pitcher of the Year, absorbed
the loss despite a strong start himself in which he took a shutout of his own
into the seventh before Castillo broke the scoreless tie.
At the conclusion of the
Guasave-Hermosillo series, Naranjeros pitcher Wilmer Rios (who led the Mex Pac
with nine wins) was removed from the reinforcement draft pool by signing a
minor league contract with the Cincinnati Reds. Rios' Mexican League rights
remain with the Monclova Acereros, for whom his nine wins last summer were tied
for the LMB lead with Veracruz' Luis Marquez.
In the subsequent third installment
of the reinforcement draft, the Caneros picked first after some arcane
proceedings and selected Obregon pitcher Manny Barreda, who himself had been
picked by the Yaquis from Culiacan in the first reinforcement draft. Barreda
had gone 2-1 with a 3.65 ERA in four starts for Obregon. In the second round,
Los Mochis picked another Obregon starting pitcher in Torres-Perez, who we
mistakenly identified as Brazilian last week. Torres-Perez, who pitched for
Mazatlan during the regular season, actually hails from the tropical paradise
of Auburn, Washington.
Choosing second, Guasave fortified
their infield by choosing Obregon's Juan Carlos Gamboa in the first round and
Jasson Atondo from Hermosillo in the second. Neither have distinguished
themselves during the current postseason (Atondo was batting just .216 at the
conclusion of the semifinals while Gamboa's average was only .146), but Gamboa
is a former Mets farmhand who was MVP of the 2014 Serie del Rey in Mexico
City's last Mexican League title-winning season while Atondo is a former Mex
Pac Rookie of the Year who can play several positions.
CANEROS' YASMANY TOMAS NAMED MEX PAC MVP
After two consecutive last-place
finishes in the playoff points standings, the Los Mochis Caneros are the
surprise team in this winter's Mexican Pacific League championship series after
finishing second in both the regular season combined standings and points race.
One of the prime movers for that turnaround is Cuban-born outfielder Yasmany
Tomas, who has been named the LMP's Most Valuable Player for 2022-23.
Tomas finished tied for the league
lead with 10 homers while topping the tables with 57 RBIs. He also hit for a
.328 average (4th), a .383 OBP (6th), a .510 slugging percentage (3rd), an .893 OPS (4th) and 27
extra-base hits (2nd). That regular season plate success hasn't yet carried
over into the playoffs, where Tomas was batting .245 with just one homer and
five ribbies over 13 games through Sunday, but Los Mochis wouldn't be where
they are today without him.
Nicknamed “El Tanque,” the
32-year-old Havana native spent five winters playing for his hometown
Industriales between 2008 and 2014 in the Cuban National Series, batting a
composite .290 with 39 homers and 151 RBIs over 272 games. He defected to Haiti
after the 2013-14 season and after some legal maneuvering, the 6'2” 260-pounder
was able to audition in the Dominican Republic for various MLB teams and
eventually signed with Arizona to a six-year, $68.5 million contract. He made
his MLB debut in 2015 and one year later clubbed 31 homers for the
Diamondbacks, although he had the dubious distinction of finished in the National
League's top five in errors committed by both left fielders and right fielders
that year.
Tomas appeared on his way to stardom
but injuries in 2017 and a 2018 incident that resulted in speeding and reckless
driving charges after he was clocked driving 105 mph in Tempe, Arizona led to a
demotion to the minor and his eventual release in late 2019 despite two strong
years for AAA Reno. He had only played 26 games for AAA Rochester in 2021 since
prior to his arrival in Los Mochis last fall.
Now primarily a first baseman, Tomas
becomes the seventh player from the Caneros to win the Héctor Espino Trophy and
the first since Brian Burgamy in the 2013-14 season. The ballot vote that
prioritized members of all ten LMP team front offices, the specialized media
and the fans gave 45 percent of the votes to Tomas so it wasn't really close
among the six candidates to choose from.
Other finalists included Monterrey's
batting champion Roberto Valenzuela (21 percent), Hermosillo pitcher Wilmer
Rios (16 percent), Caneros outfielder Justin Dean (11 percent), Obregon first
baseman/DH Victor Mendoza (5 percent) and Los Mochis pitcher Luis Miranda (2
percent). While Miranda edged out Rios for Pitcher of the Year honors in the
balloting for that award, Rios led Miranda by an 8-to-1 margin in MVP voting.
SULTANES TO REOPEN BASEBALL ACADEMY
After three years of inactivity, the
former Mexican League Baseball Academy in El Carmen, Nuevo Leon will come back
to life in 2023 with the support of the Monterrey Sultanes. Team's president
Jose Maiz García made the anouncement, according to Septima Entrada
writer Tomas Lopez. Interviewed on the Bateo Libre radio program, Maiz
stated that an agreement has been reached with the Mexican League to once again
develop players at the facilities.
“Monterrey is going to continue
training Mexican baseball players,” Maiz declared, “especially now that no
other team in the league wanted to participate in El Carmen. Possibly we are
just going to participate. It has already been arranged with the league. The
other 17 teams did not want to take part in the El Carmen Academy. The Sultanes
have already sent people to see the facilities and in about two or three months
we will be working in El Carmen. Sultanes only.”
Maiz, a
member of Monterrey's Little League World Series champions along with future
big league shortstop Hector Torres and Mexican League star Angel Macias, added that it may be
called Academia Cerro de la Silla or Academy Cerro de Las Mitras.
The academy was inaugurated in 1996
as the brainchild of then-LMB president Pedro Treto Cisneros, Mexico City
Tigres owner Alejo Peralta and Mexico City Diablos Rojos president Roberto
Mansur to develop prospects for future play in the Mexican League. In more than
two decades of operation, thousands of young players called the dormitories
home as such future MLB players as relievers Roberto Osuna and Joakim Soria
plus infielder Ramiro Pena cut their teeth on the diamonds in El Carmen, as did
eventual LMBers like shortstop Heber Gomez and first baseman Japhet Amador.
The academy's expenses (which
included housing, dining and education in addition to baseball development)
were shared for years by all Liga teams at approximately US$500,000 each. LMB
organizations would send teenage signees for some seasoning before bringing
them up to the LMB if they were good enough, although the contracts of many
were sold to Major League organizations while they were still at the facility.
However, as many teams were
struggling to pay the bills at home while others began building academies of
their own (especially after MLB determined that teams cannot sell players to
its organizations but academies can), support faded for the El Carmen operation
and it was shut down in 2019. It has remained closed since.