Thousands of articles!
B a s e b a l l
M e x i c o
September
1, 2 0 1 7
Tijuana,
Puebla both win series; Serie del Rey rematch set
The Tijuana
Toros eliminated Monterrey from further
contention for the Mexican League pennant by topping the Sultanes, 4-2,
Thursday night in the border city to win their North Division
championship
series, 4 games to 2. Manager Pedro
Mere's club will advance to the Serie del
Rey for a second year in a row against defending champion Puebla
after the
Pericos knocked out Yucatan, 4-3, Tuesday at home in Game Five of the
LMB South
finals. Skipper Tim Johnson's Parrots
will seek to bring Puebla its fifth Mexican League crown while the
Toros are
gunning for Tijuana's first-ever flag.
Since the Toros
and Pericos were able to conclude their
respective divisional championship sets in less than seven games,
they'll be
able to rest for four days before colliding in Game One of the Serie del Rey on Tuesday night in
Tijuana. Puebla defeated Tijuana in six
games last year to win the pennant.
TIJUANA 4-7-0,
Monterrey 2-10-1
W-H. Ramirez
(2-0). L-A. Castro
(0-2). SV-Urquidez (2).
A-17,987. T-3:03.
Tijuana starter
Horacio Ramirez left the game in the sixth
inning with a 4-2 lead and the Toros bullpen combined to hold Monterrey
scoreless the rest of the way as TJ held off the Sultanes to clinch the
LMB
North title for the second year in a row.
A sellout crowd of 17,987 packing Estadio Gasmart was home happy
after
the home side concluded the set, 4 games to 2. Attendance was strong in
this
series, with 110,240 fans coming to the six games in both cities for an
average
of 18,373 per opening.
The Toros jumped
on Monterrey starter Angel Castro early by
scoring two runs in the bottom of the first inning.
The first three Tijuana batters reached base
as singles from Jose Guadalupe Chavez and Corey Brown bracketed a walk
to
Roberto Lopez. Cleanup batter Cyle
Hankerd dribbled a grounder to Sultanes third baseman Agustin Murillo,
who
tagged the base to force Lopez out as Chavez streaked 90 feet to plate
the
game's first run. After a Castro wild
pitch to Jorge Cantu sent Brown and Hankerd to third and second,
respectively, Cantu
lofted a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Brown.
Monterrey closed
their deficit to 2-1 in the top of the
second when Daniel Mayora lined a one-out homer over the left field
wall, but
the Toros responded with two more runs in the bottom of the third. With one out, Castro plunked Hankerd, and
then delivered a pitch to Cantu that the former big leaguer drilled
into center
field for a double. Sultanes veteran
Chris Roberson fielded the drive and sent in a throw to second sacker
Ramon
Rios, whose relay to the plate in an attempt to nail Hankerd at home
sailed
away from catcher Luis Flores' grasp to score both both Hankerd AND
Cantu, who
never slowed down after coming into second.
Monterrey manager Felix Fermin challenged the play but replays
upheld
home plate umpire Orlando Lopez' decision.
Castro was replaced on the hill later in the inning by Nick
Struck, but
the damage was already done and was later proved irreparable.
A Zoilo Almonte
solo homer off Ramirez in the fifth brought
the visitors to within two runs at 4-2, but relievers Mark Serrano,
Juan
Sandoval and closer Jason Urquidez held the Sultanes scoreless after
Serrano
took over for Ramirez in the sixth.
Serrano, Sandoval and Urquidez were all unscored upon over a
combined
10.1 innings in ten appearances in the series.
It's been quite
a year for Sandoval, a 36-year-old Dominican
who was a AA Southern League All-Star n 2013 with Montgomery who led
LMB
pitchers during the regular season with 62 trips from the bullpen while
his 28
holds were eleven more than Monclova reliever Arturo Barradas' 18. After being touched for two runs in the
second game of the Toros first round series with Aguascalientes on
August 14,
Sandoval has been unscored upon in his seven subsequent playoff
appearances. He didn't even allow a hit
in that span until giving up an eighth-inning single to Murillo last
night that
was quickly wiped out on a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning.
Sandoval has a
combined six playoff holds in eight appearances heading into the Puebla
series.
Ramirez earned
the win after giving up two runs on seven hits
(including two homers) and two walks over 5.1 innings, striking out
eight
Sultanes batsmen, while Urquidez earned his second save of the series. Castro took the loss in the wake of allowing
four runs on five hits, two walks and hitting a batter while throwing
58
pitches in just 2.2 innings. Struck's
own remarkable run as a setup man for Monterrey came to an end. The Oregonian went 3.1 scoreless innings to
bring his playoff string to seven scoreless appearances over 16
innings, adding
15 strikeouts and only walking four.
All, ultimately, for naught as Struck and his Sultanes teammates
will
head home while Pepe Maiz' favorite team moves on.
PUEBLA 4-9-1,
Yucatan 3-11-1
W-Meza (1-0). L-J. Russell
(0-1). SV-Heath
(3).
A-10,712. T-2:40.
This one started
out as a pitchers' duel, with Puebla starter
Andres Meza and Yucatan opener James Russell swapped goose eggs on the
scoreboard through four innings, but it was a four-run Pericos outburst
in the
bottom of the fifth that erased a temporary 1-0 Leones lead and
propelled the
defending Liga champs to a 4-3 victory and a second consecutive LMB
South title
over Yucatan, 4 games to 1. A crowd of
10,712 clicked the turnstiles at Estadio Hermanos Serdan, bringing the
three-game total attendance in Puebla to 33,613 and the overall series
turnout
to 57,613 over five games, an average of 11,523 per contest.
While ex-Cubs
hurler Russell sailed through the initial four
frames for Yucatan, retiring the first nine Pericos he faced, Meza
struggled a
bit to hold the fort. He survived a
scare in the top of the second, when Sebastian Valle stroked a one-out
double
to right and went to third on Ricardo Serrano's single up the middle,
putting
runners on the corners with one out.
However, Meza was able to get out of that jam by inducing a
5-4-3 double
play grounder to third by Jose Aguilar to end the threat.
Leones manager Chico Rodriguez appealed the
out at first, but the call by umpire Alan Izaguirre was upheld after a
replay
review.
Yucatan woke up
the scorekeeper in the top of the fifth by
manufacturing a run without benefit of a hit. Leadoff hitter Ricardo
Serrano
reached base when second baseman Hector Garanzuay bobbled his grounder,
moved
to second when a Meza pitch to Aguilar got past catcher Cesar Tapia,
scooted
over to third on Aguilar's sacrifice bunt and came in to score on a
Julio
Borbon sacrifice fly to give the Leones a 1-0 advantage.
The Pericos
replied by batting through the order in the
bottom of the fifth and scoring four times.
Ricky Rodriguez opened with a single and moved to second when
Russell
walked Tapia. Both came in to score when
Garanzuay dragged a bunt single down the third base line that Serrano
threw
past first baseman Ricky Alvarez into right field foul territory while
Garanzuay scampered to third. After
Sergio Perez singled in Garanzuay to put Puebla up 3-1 with no outs,
Russell
was pulled in favor of Yoanner Negrin, who'd pitched in relief for the
first
time in two-plus years two nights before.
After Alberto Carreon's sacrifice bunt sent Perez to second,
Negrin gave
up back-to-back singles to Borbon (scoring Perez to make it a 4-1
contest) and
Endy Chavez. That was enough for manager
Rodriguez to bring out his hook again to bring in closer Ronald
Belisario, who
threw out Borbon at home on an Issmael Salas comebacker and got Jesus
Arredondo
to fly out to center to finally end the inning.
A former Dodgers
reliever, Belisario turned in a standout
performance by tossing 3.2 shutout innings the rest of the way for the
Leones,
allowing only a pair of seventh-inning singles.
The 34-year-old Venezuelan had a standout postseason, with a
0.68 ERA in
13.2 innings over seven appearances, picking up three saves.
Interestingly,
after striking out seven Leon batters over four innings in his first
two times
out in the Leon series, Belisario failed to whiff a batter in any of
his
subsequent five trips from the pen against either the Bravos or Pericos
for a
total of 8.2 innings.
Yuniesky
Betancourt brought Yucatan to within a run by
belting a two-run homer off Meza's 58th and final pitch in the top of
the
sixth, but the LMB South's regular season champions were unable to
score the
rest of the way off four Puebla relievers.
Pericos closer Deunte Heath, who gave up runs in his previous
two appearances,
went the final two entradas for his
third save of the series, allowing no hits and striking out three.
Meza wasn't at
his sharpest for the Pericos, giving up three
runs (two earned) on eight hits over 5.2 innings, but it was good
enough for
the win. Russell took the loss for
Yucatan after letting in four runs (all in the fifth) on five hits and
a walk
after such a strong start. Borbon
finished with three hits and an RBI for Puebla while Chavez added a
pair of
singles. The Leones, who outhit the host
team by an 11-9 margin, got two hits apiece from Valle, Juan Francisco
and Ivan
Araujo. However, Yucatan went just
1-for-7 with runners in scoring position while Puebla was 3-for-6 in
similar
situations.
Ordinarily,
without a break between games, Puebla manager Tim
Johnson (who took over the team after Von Hayes' midseason firing)
might go
with Josh Outman as his starter in the championship series against
Tijuana
while Johnson's counterpart with the Toros, Pedro Mere, would give the
ball to
Edgar Gonzalez. However, with four days
to rest all their pitchers, either manager might reshuffle their
respective
rotations prior to Tuesday's Serie del
Rey opener in Tijuana. We'll all see
soon enough.
FOR MORE BASEBALL NEWS
FROM MEXICO, VISIT
www.BaseballMexico.com