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B a s e b a l l
M e x i c o
Monday,
January 24, 2022
CHARROS WIN GAME 7, ON TO SERIE DEL
CARIBE
The Mexican Pacific League’s
championship series came down to a seventh and deciding game for the third year
in a row but instead of Culiacan winning the rubber match as they did in 2020
and 2021, the Jalisco Charros crushed the Tomateros, 8-2, Saturday night in
Guadalajara. The win punched the Charros’ ticket to the Caribbean Series in
Santo Domingo, where Jalisco will represent Mexico in a Friday opener against
the host Liga Dominicana champion Cibao Gigantes at 8PM local time.
After Jalisco won the first two
games in Guadalajara, the series shifted north to Culiacan for the next three
contests. The Tomateros took a series lead last Monday by trimming the Charros,
7-3. Manager Benji Gil’s defending champions exploded for seven runs in the
bottom of the first inning to chase Jalisco starter Brennan Bernardino.
Jesus
Fabela closed out the scoring with a two-run triple off Manuel Flores. The
Charros scored in the third when ageless Manny Rodriguez hit a solo homer off
Manny Barreda and again in the eighth when Feliz Perez crunched a two-run
roundtripper off reliever Alejandro Chavez. Barreda got the win, the 10th of
his LMP playoff career, by tossing six innings and allowing one run on two hits
and a walk, striking out six.
Culiacan tied the series at two
games apiece by slipping past the Charros, 3-2, in Tuesday’s Game Four.
Starters Irwin Delgado of Jalisco and Tomateros opener Jose Bravo swapped zeros
on the scoreboard until the bottom of the fourth when Alexis Wilson and
Emmanuel Avila contributed RBI singles to give Culiacan a 2-0 lead. Jalisco
scored their first run in the top of the fifth when Missael Rivera barely beat
Sebastian Elizalde’s throw to the plate from right field on an Esteban Quiroz
single. The Charros tied the game in the top of the eighth when Christian
Villanueva singled home Jose Juan Aguilar, but the Tomateros went again for
good in the bottom of the frame when Elizade came in from third on a Stevie
Wilkerson infield single. Culiacan closer Alberto Baldonado struck out three
batsmen in the ninth for the save.
Jalisco regained the series lead in
Game Five by trouncing the Tomateros, 8-2, Wednesday night in Culiacan. The
hosts went up, 2-0, in the bottom of the first on Victor Mendoza’s two-run
double off Charros starter Orlando Lara, but the 36-year-old lefty settled down
and allowed no more runs over his winning six-inning stint. Jalisco went ahead
in the top of the second on an RBI double by Villanueva and a two-run single
from Amadeo Zazueta. Villanueva’s two-run homer in the sixth made it a 5-2 game
and a three-run bomb from Perez one entrada later closed the scoring for the
night. The Charros outhit Culiacan by a 12-to-4 margin as Dariel Alvarez
singled three times and scored thrice. Anthony Vasquez suffered the loss in his
last start for the Tomateros after announcing his pending retirement, giving up
four runs on six hits over five innings. Lara has yet to allow an earned run in
the postseason.
After Thursday’s travel day, the
title series resumed Friday with Game Six in Guadalajara as the visiting
Tomateros stayed alive with a 5-3 win over the Charros. The two teams were
knotted up at 3-3 in a see-saw battle before the defending champs went ahead
for good in the eight when Efren Navarro led off with a grounder to Jalisco third
baseman Agustin Murillo, who made a diving stop but threw the ball into foul
territory, allowing Navarro to advance to second. Pinch-runner Randy Romero
took third when Alexis Wilson singled and came home on an Avila sac fly to
right. A Joey Meneses RBI single in the ninth closed the scoring for both teams
as Tomateros closer Baldonado held Jalisco scoreless in the bottom of the
inning to earn the save. Reliever Oliver Perez got the win while Jared Wilson
suffered his second series loss out of the bullpen for Jalisco.
The deciding Game Seven was played
Saturday in Estadio Charros and there was little doubt in this one after four
innings. Jalisco broke open a scoreless tie in the bottom of the second with
consecutive run-scoring doubles from Zazueta, Flores and Aguilar, then batted
through the order in the fourth for four tallies, including consecutive RBI
singles by Quiroz, Japhet Amador and Alvarez to make it a 7-0 game. Culiacan
broke into the scoring column with a solo homer by Joe Meneses in the top of
the seventh but the hosts plated one more run in the eighth when Flores and
Aguilar hit back-to-back doubles off Tomateros reliever Derrick Loop. Charros
starter Bernardino tossed eight innings, allowing four hits (including Meneses’
roundtripper) and striking out four. Culiacan opener Barreda was racked up for
six runs on eight hits and a walk in 3.1 frames as the Charros outhit the
visitors by a 15-to-4 margin, with Aguilar contributing two doubles and a
single.
Manager Roberto Vizcarra’s troops will load up on
reinforcements prior to heading to the Dominican Republic, where the six league
champions will likely reflect de facto all-star teams more than the rosters
they ended their regular seasons with.
AGUILAS’ SANCHEZ NAMED LMP MVP,
RELIEVER OF THE YEAR
Mexicali closer Jake Sanchez has
capped an extraordinary season by being voted the Mexican Pacific League’s Most
Valuable Player, earning the Hector Espino Trophy. The 32-year-old righty from
Brawley, California was also awarded the Isidro Marquez Trophy as the LMP
Reliever of the Year.
By recording 26 saves for the
Aguilas in as many opportunities (setting another Mex Pac record for
consecutive saves) to augment a 1.69 ERA, Sanchez earned a measure of
redemption after some relatively lean years following a 2016-17 season during
which he led the LMP with 21 saves and posted a remarkable 0.28 ERA, then
earned a pair of salvados during that
winter’s Caribbean Series. He then bounced around the A’s minor league system
for a couple years before landing in the Mexican League with Tijuana for the
Fall 2018 season. In three years with the Toros between 2018 and 2021, Sanchez
has only turned in 13 saves and a 3.54 ERA over 76 trips from the bullpen
(although he was a member of TJ’s pennant-winning team last summer).
Sanchez suffered through a tough 2020-21 season for Mexicali
as well by finishing with five saves and a 4.24 ERA in 19 outings before taking
a blunt instrument to the LMP record book this winter. He becomes the first
hurler to win MVP honors since Mazatlan’s Francisco Campos won the pitching
Triple Crown in 2002-03 and the first reliever ever to cop top honors. Sanchez
won 36 percent of the vote among media members, ahead of Navojoa outfielder
Tirso Ornelas’ 19 percent and the 16 percent of votes cast for Obregon’s Victor
Mendoza as six players received at least 12 percent support as Most Valuable
Player.
Sanchez had an easier time fending off competitors for
Reliever of the Year, pulling down 91 percent of that vote while only Jalisco’s
Alejandro Tovalin (8 percent) and Carlos Stiff Rodriguez of Monterrey (1
percent) joined him as vote-getters. The 6’1” product of Iowa Wesleyan College
added an 0.84 WHIP and 48 strikeouts in 32 innings to rise to fifth in Mex Pac
history with 72 career saves, four behind Oscar Villareal.
Hermosillo starter Elian Leyva staged his own comeback season
by winning the Vicente “Huevo” Romo Trophy as Pitcher of the Year. Over 12
starts for the Naranjeros, the Cuban-born Leyva led LMP openers in four
categories: wins (7), ERA (1.54), WHIP (0.99) and lowest opponent batting
average (.205). He also posted a rare so-called “immaculate inning” when he
struck out Los Mochis’ Jorge Rivera, Edgar Robles and Isaac Rodriguez on nine
pitches during his first start on October 8. Leyva, who won the Romo Trophy two
years ago after winning the Pitching Triple Crown with Jalisco, received 80
percent of the vote, well ahead of teammate Wilmer Rios (6%).
Ornelas received a measure of consolation by earning the
Baldomero “Melo” Almada Trophy as Rookie of the Year. The Navojoa outfielder
clinched that win by leading the league with a .353 batting average in 60 games
on 77 hits, including 16 doubles and a pair of homers. The Padres prospect
collected 84 percent of votes cast, well ahead of Mazatlan’s Randy Romero’s 12
percent. Ornelas becomes the ninth Mayos player to be chosen as Rookie of the
Year.
To nobody’s surprise, Navojoa
helmsman Matias Carrillo was named Manager of the Year after piloting the Mayos
to the best regular season record (40-28) and top playoff seed after the team
went 23-36 last winter and missed the playoffs. It marks the third time
Carrillo, who was inducted into the Salon de la Fama as a player a year ago,
has taken home the Benjamin “Cananea” Reyes Trophy after doing it in 2011-12
with Guasave and 2016-17 with Navojoa before Mayos owner Victor Cuevas fired
him three months after suffering a first-round playoff loss. Carrillo won 73
percent of the media vote, followed by Guasave’s Oscar Robles at 13 percent.
MAESTROS OF
MEXICO: Cornelio Garcia, 1B (1984-07)
The first player out of
Mexico’s baseball academy near Monterrey to sign with an MLB organization,
Cornelio Garcia went on to fashion a notable career in both the Mexican League
and Mexican Pacific League as a good-hitting, fleet-footed outfielder and first
baseman over 24 seasons.
Cornelio
Garcia Chaidez was born January 23, 1955 in Ensenada, Baja California Norte,
where he was a star track runner as a youth.
After playing in the Academia and batting .225 in 19 games for Yucatan
as a 19-year-old in 1984, Garcia signed on with the White Sox that summer. He
played minor league ball for seven seasons in their organization, including
three stints at AA Birmingham. Garcia hit .277 with 20 homers, 134 stolen bases
and 254 RBIs over 570 games while turning in an OBP of .324 or higher every
season before returning to the Leones during the 1990 campaign.
After hitting .290 in 40 games for
Yucatan in 1990, Garcia went on a tear during which he never hit below .300 for
the next 16 seasons to set a Liga record. The 5’11” 154-pounder joined
Monterrey in 1995, leading the LMB in 1997 with 171 hits and a .382 batting
average. He also led in stolen bases
with 45 for Yucatan in 1993 and triples with 11 for the Sultanes in 1995.
When he retired after one final turn
with the Sultanes in the 2007 season, Garcia had a total of 2,095 hits for an
LMB career batting average of .345, which is tied for fourth all-time with Teo
Acosta and Oswaldo Olivares and is the highest among all Mexican-born players.
His 1,174 runs scored are 14th among all Liga batsmen while Garcia’s 340 stolen
bases rank fifth.
Garcia was
also a hitting machine over his 20 winters for Hermosillo. While he never won a
MexPac batting title, he did lead the LMP with 79 hits and 47 runs in 1993-94
and topped the circuit with 18 doubles in 1999-2000 en route to a Mex Pac
career .288 hitting mark, fourth all-time. His 151 stolen bases in 1,010 LMP
games ranks eighth all-time, while his 568 runs scored are sixth on the list.
Although
never regarded as a power hitter, especially for a first baseman over his
latter years (his career-high in homers was 15), Cornelio Garcia made his mark
in Mexican baseball as a good instinctive hitter who was aggressive at the
plate and on the bases plus a quality glove man in the field. Carlos Fragoso,
who has scouted in Mexico for both the Yankees and Red Sox, compares Garcia to
Vic Davalillo. He was selected to the Salon de la Fama in 2013.