Liga vets Quintero, Silva dealt to new teams

Two longtime veterans of the Mexican baseball wars have been sent to new teams this week.  On Monday, the Monterrey Sultanes loaned Edgar Quintero (pictured) to LMB North rivals Saltillo.  One day later, Tijuana dealt venerable pitcher Walter Silva to the Laguna Vaqueros for catcher Gilberto Galaviz.

Now 38, the lefty-batting Quintero hit .315 for Monterrey in 68 games.  He broke in with the Sultanes in 1997 and, except for one year in Puebla, has spent his entire career with Monterrey.  Quintero has yet to play this season, in which he entered 11 hits shy of 1,500 for his LMB career and needs 20 homers to reach 250 lifetime in the Liga.

The 39-year-old Silva is another former fixture in Monterrey, spending all or part of twelve seasons in Sultanes togs before being dealt to Tijuana in 2014.  The right-hander has gone 12-18 over the past two summers for the Toros and owns a lifetime 74-66 LMB record, reaching double-figure win totals in three seasons. Silva pitched six games for the San Diego Padres in 2009, losing twice.

Two other LMB vets landed with new teams earlier in the week.  Outfielder Willy Taveras signed as a free agent with the Puebla Pericos while catcher Adan Munoz was loaned to Reynosa by the Tjuana Toros.  Taveras led the National League in stolen bases with 67 swipes for the Rockies in 2008.  He hit .316 with 11 homers for Puebla in 2014 and spent most of last year with Sugar Land in the independent Atlantic League.

Munoz, who turned 38 last month, made his Liga debut in 1998 with Monclova, batting .348 in 22 games.  While he's only topped the .300 threshhold three times since then, the 6'2" 215-pound Sonora native has built a reputation as a timely hitter with some power and a tough catcher who is not one to be messed with.  It may be interesting to see how well he works with Kyle Farnsworth in Reynosa.

BLACKLEY SIGNS WITH KOREAN TEAM, DONE WITH HERMOSILLO

The Mexican Pacific League’s ERA leader is finished for the winter. Former major leaguer Travis Blackley (pictured), who was 5-1 with a 2.09 ERA for the Hermosillo Naranjeros, is back home in his native Australia and through pitching for the defending champion after signing a 2011 contract with the Kia Tigers of the Korea Baseball Organization. The Tigers have ordered him to stop pitching in Mexico despite a Naranjeros website claim that Blackley “did his utmost to get permission” to return to Hermosillo for the rest of the winter.

To replace Blackley on the roster, the Naranjeros picked up another ex-MLB lefty, Randy Keisler, off the Obregon Yaquis roster. Keisler, who went 4-4 in parts of three seasons with the Reds, Athletics and Cardinals between 2005 and 2007, was signed by Obregon in early December after a 3-3 summer with the Mexican League’s Laguna Vaqueros in 2010, but never pitched an inning for the Yaquis.

Elsewhere in the Mex Pac, Mazatlan’s Leo Rosales is out for the year with a shoulder injury after going 11-for-11 in save opportunities with a 2.95 ERA in 20 appearances. Rosales has been replaced on the roster by import third baseman Brian Barden. The Venados also picked up outfielder Edgar Quintero on loan from Los Mochis. Quintero hit .320 with 13 homers in 96 games for Monterrey in the Mexican League in 2010.

MEXICO FINISHES 3-0 IN POOL A, SECOND ROUND AHEAD

Cristian Presichi drove in Edgar Quintero (pictured) with the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth inning, and then Hector Navarro held Australia scoreless in the bottom of the ninth to give Mexico a 10-9 win Saturday in the Baseball World Cup in Prague. Quintero hit a one-out double, then was driven in by Presichi’s single.

Mexico ran its run-scoring margin to 22-0 over the first three games by building a 5-0 lead before the Australians scored a run in the third. The Mexicans were cruising along with an 8-2 lead before the Aussies exploded for five sixth-inning runs, and though Mexico posted a run in the top of the eighth, Australia pushed two across against reliever Alan Guerrero to knot the score at 9-9, setting the stage for the fateful ninth inning. Hector Navarro then held the Aussies scoreless to notch the save. Guerrero got the win despite his shaky performance.

Mexico finished with a perfect 3-0 record in Pool A to advance to the second round, beginning with a game against Japan Sunday in Parma, Italy.

MEXICANS CRUSH CZECHS TO CLINCH SECOND ROUND BERTH

Mexico made it two consecutive dominant wins Friday by clobbering the host Czech Republic, 9-0, to go to 2-0 in Pool A play and punching their ticket into the second round of the tournament.

Starter Francisco Cordova (pictured) struck out nine Czech batsmen in six innings for the win, while Jaciel Acosta and Alan Guerrero combined to pitch three hitless innings as Mexican pitchers racked up 15 strikeouts and allowed just three hits and walked two.

Mexico broke open a scoreless tie with four runs in the bottom of the third inning as Sergio Contreras blasted a three-run homer to center field off Czech starter Martin Schneider. The Mexican put three more tallies on the scoreboard in the fifth when Edgar Quintero sent his second homer in as many games off Schneider over the right field wall to make it 7-0. Schneider absorbed the loss for the Czechs by allowing seven runs in five innings. The longball brought in two more runs one inning later when Ivan Terrazas conked a two-run homer to center field to end the scoring for the game.

Mexico will finish pool play Saturday with a game against Australia.

COTA BELTS 3 HOMERS IN WORLD CUP OPENING ROMP

Jesus Cota, who belted home runs for Saltillo in each of the first four games of Saltillo’s Mexican League Championship Series win over Quintana Roo, whacked three longballs in Mexico’s 8-0 whitewashing of Taiwan in the Baseball World Cup’s Pool A opener for both nations Thursday in the Czech Republic.

Mexico scored their first run on a groundout as Carlos Valencia’s bases-loaded fielder’s choice dribbler to short in the second brought Saul Soto in from third to put the Verde Grande up 1-0, but that was no indication of what lay ahead. Cota powered a two-out solo homer to right field in the third to make it 2-0, drilled another roundtripper to right in the sixth to put the score at 3-0, and then bashed a three-run bomb to key a five-run seventh inning outburst to give the Mexicans a 7-0 advantage. Edgar Quintero followed Cota with a rocket shot of his own to center to bring it to 8-0.

Starter Rafael Diaz, a teammate of Cota’s in Saltillo, tossed six scoreless innings for the win, allowing six hits and two walks for Mexico.