Madero HR paces Yucatan win; TJ bops Sultanes again

Diego Madero cracked a three-run homer to key a five-run outburst in the sixth inning as the Yucatan Leones defeated the Puebla Pericos, 7-6, Friday night at home to even their Mexican League South Division championship series at one game apiece.  In the LMB North title series, Horacio Ramirez pitched seven innings of one-run, four-hit ball as his Tijuana Toros pulled away from the Monterrey Sultanes, 7-1, in the border city, giving the Bulls a 2-0 lead in their best-of-7 set.

Saturday will be an off day as both series shift to Puebla and Monterrey, respectively, for Game Three action Sunday.  No pitching matchups have been announced for either contest.


YUCATAN 7-9-1, Puebla 6-14-1
W-Fr. Rodriguez (1-0).  L-Morales (0-1).  SV-Belisario (1).  A-12,000.  T-3:30.

Puebla took an early lead with two runs in the top of the first inning and built their advantage to 5-2 until the bottom of the sixth, when Yucatan scored five runs to go ahead, and the Leones never looked back in a 7-6 win over the defending champs in Merida Friday.  The Pericos had won Game One at Parque Kukulkan on Thursday.

The Pericos got things going early, scoring runs on doubles by Issmael Salas and Ricky Rodriguez in the first off Leones starter James Russell to go up, 2-0.  Yucatan got one run back in the second on Juan Francisco's leadoff homer and one more in the third on Diego Madero's RBI single to knot the score in the third, but the visitors plated three tallies in the fourth to regain the lead.  Puebla loaded the bases with one out against Russell, who gave up a go-ahead single to Alberto Carreon before being replaced on the mound by Alejandro Soto, making his first appearance for Yucatan since July 29.  After Julio Borbon brought in Jon Del Campo with a sacrifice fly, Soto hurt his own cause by dropping a two-out popup by Carreon as Sergio Perez (who was running on the pitch) motored in from third.

Puebla held their three-run lead until the sixth, when the first three Yucatan hitters got on base to chase Pericos starter Josh Outman.  Reliever Mario Morales was welcomed into the game by a two-run double by Sebastian Valle, bringing in.  With two on and two out, Diego Madero lofted a homer to left, giving the Leones a 7-5 lead.  The visitors closed the gap to one run in the eighth when a fielder's choice grounder to second by Carreon scored Cesar Tapia, but Yucatan closer Ronald Belisario got the final out of the inning and pitched a scoreless ninth with Jesus Arredondo grounding into a 6-4-3 double play to end the game.

Onetime Angels reliever Francisco Rodriguez, who's been a starter in Yucatan this year, pitched three scoreless innings out of the bullpen to earn the win for the Leones while Morales' bad fifth inning tagged him with the loss.  Madero finished the night with three hits and four RBIs for the winners while Valle had a pair of hits, two ribbies and a run.  Salas had three hits for Puebla, scoring one run and driving in another, and Del Campo contributed two doubles and a run for manager Tim Johnson's Pericos.

With the series tied at one game apiece, the two teams will play Game Three Sunday in Puebla.


TIJUANA 7-10-0, Monterrey 1-5-0
W-H. Ramirez (1-0).  L-A. Castro (0-1).  A-17,021.  T-2:57.

The Toros registered their second one-sided win over visiting Monterrey Friday, but this one was closer than the final score implies.  Tijuana starter Horacio Ramirez fell behind, 1-0, in the top of the first inning when Ramon Rios scored for the Sultanes on a Luis Juarez sacrifice fly, then settled into a pitchers duel with his Monterrey counterpart, Angel Castro, as Rios' counter stood as the only score of the game heading into the bottom of the sixth.  Then the potent Toros offense went to work.

Isaac Rodriguez led off the frame with a single, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Jose Guadalupe Chavez and scampered to third when Castro uncorked a wild pitch to Roberto Lopez.  Castro then plunked Lopez to put runners at the corners, bringing up Corey Brown, who singled Rodriguez in to tie the game while Lopez moved to second.  Castro walked Cyle Hankerd to fill the bags and Jorge Cantu followed with a two-run single to left, giving the home team a 3-1 lead.  That was all for Castro, who was replaced by Nick Struck on the hill.  The Oregonian rewarded Monterrey skipper Felix Fermin by retiring Dustin Martin and Juan Apodaca to end the inning.

Tijuana essentially put the game away with a four-run eighth inning against Sultanes closer Wirfin Obispo.  Apodaca hit a two-run, ground-rule double with one out, then scored himself when Alex Liddi belted a two-run homer to left, bringing the score to 7-1.  It was left to Toros closer Jason Urquidez to take the mound in the top of the ninth, and while the Californian did allow a two-out double to Juarez, he induced Daniel Mayora into a groundout to Chavez at short to end the contest.

Ramirez earned the win for Tijuana as the ex-MLBer went seven innings and only allowed that single run in the first, scattering four hits and one walk while striking out four.  Castro was saddled with the loss, showing three earned runs on five hits for his 5.1 innings of work.  Rodriguez had three hits for the Toros while Brown had two hits, scored twice and drove in a run.  Juarez had two of Monterrey's five hits, including a double and his RBI sac fly.  A Tijuana crowd of 17,021 looked on, giving the Toros over 30,000 in attendance for Games One and Two.

The series shifts to Monterrey for Sunday's Game Three as the Sultanes try coming back from a 2-games-to-0 deficit.

Yucatan holds off Leon to reach South finals; TJ up 3 to 2

Diego Madero's two-run homer highlighted Yucatan's three-run eighth inning as the Leones outlasted the Leon Bravos, 5-4, Friday night in Leon to complete a four-game sweep in their Mexican League South Division semifinal playoff series.  Yucatan advances to play defending champion Puebla in the LMB South championship series.  The Pericos needed just four games to eliminte Quintana Roo in the first round.

In the LMB North semifinals, the Tijuana Toros pulled away from the Aguascalientes Rieleros, 11-4, Friday in Aguascalientes to take a 3-games-to-2 lead in that set.  The visitors kept the basepaths busy with eleven hits while drawing eight walks from Rieleros pitchers as leadoff batter Jose Guadalupe Chavez reached base four times, scored twice and drove in three runs.  The winner of this series will meet Monterrey in the LMB North finals.  The Sultanes swept Monclova earlier this week.

There'll be no action Saturday as the Toros and Rieleros travel to Tijuana for Sunday's Game Six.

Yucatan 5-7-0, LEON 4-14-3
W-Barraza (1-0).  L-W. Silva (0-1).  Sv-Belisario (2).  A-6,894.  T-3:15.
A pitcher's duel between veteran hurlers Jonathan Castellanos of Yucatan and Leon's Walter Silva through seven innings ended with both teams combining for seven runs over the final two entradas as Yucatan held off Leon, 5-4, in front of a season-high crowd of 6,894 in Leon.  Leon took a 1-0 lead in the third when Junior Lake doubled in Eduardo Arredondo from second, but Yucatan tied it up in the fifth after leadoff hitter Jose Aguilar reached base on a fielding error by Bravos third baseman Miguel Terrero and eventually scored on a bloop single by Leo Heras.  The score remained knotted at 1-1 until the top of the eighth, when Ivan Araujo singled one out before Madero took Silva deep with a line-drive homer to left for Yucatan.  Ricky Alvarez later doubled in Juan Francisco off reliever Fredy Quintero to give the visitors a 4-1 lead.  Leon scored twice in the eighth on RBI singles by Torrero and Brandon Macias, but Yucatan went up 5-3 in the ninth when Sebastian Valle scored on a Gerardo Sanchez wild pitch to Heras.  Niko Vasquez doubled in Dan Johnson in the bottom of the ninth to bring Leon to within a run, but Yucatan closer Ronald Belisario got the final two outs for the save and win.  The Bravos actually outhit the Leones, 14-to-7, but only hit 3-for-13 with runners in scoring position and left 12 men stranded on base.

Tijuana 11-11-0, AGUASCALIENTES 4-9-1
W-Mitre (1-0).  L-L. Castro (0-2).  A-6,645.  T-3:43.
The top four batters in the Tijuana order combined for eight hits, four runs and nine RBIs as the visiting Toros broke a 4-4 tie with a single run in the top of the fourth and pulled away from Aguascalientes, 11-4, Friday in Aguascalientes.  Leadoff hitter Jose Guadalupe Chavez was the primary pest for TJ, going 2-for-4 with a pair of walks, scoring twice and driving in three more runs.  Roberto Lopez scored the eventual game-winning run for Tijuana in the top of the fourth when he reached base on a fielder's choice grounder to Rieleros pitcher Linder Castro, advanced to second on a passed ball by catcher Carlos Rodriguez and came in when Corey Brown's grounder found its way to left field.  The Toros then scored twice in the sixth and four times in the seventh (with Lopez punching a two-run double) to put the game away.  Former Yankees pitcher Sergio Mitre replaced starter Carlos Hernandez in the third inning and tossed four innings of one-hit shutout ball for the TJ win.  Castro, who relieved Rieleros starter Francisco del Rosario in the third, gave up a pair of runs in 2.2 innings to take the loss.