VERACRUZ' UNSWORTH TOSSES NO-HITTER VS. DIABLOS

Dylan Unsworth during his no-hitter

    Veracruz pitcher Dylan Unsworth only arrived this year in the Mexican League and has already ensured that his name is registered in the record books by launching a no-hitter last Friday in an 8-0 Aguilas home victory over the Mexico City Diablos Rojos in Estadio Beto Avila.

    In just his second game in the LMB, the 4,229 fans in attendance saw a golden outing from the South African pitcher, who pitched the full route and took a perfect game into the seventh inning. After walking Juan Carlos Gamboa on five pitches with one out, "El Tiburon" did not allow another baserunner and handcuffed the Diablos to achieve the Liga's first no-no of the 2021 season and number 96 in the history of the summer circuit.

    The former Mariners farmhand, who was about to not come to Mexico due to the complicated logistics to travel from South Africa to Veracruz due to the pandemic, became the seventh pitcher of the Eagle to toss a no-hit, no run game, joining a list inaugurated by Hall of Famer Martín Dihigo in 1937.

    The Aguilas opened the scoring in the second inning off Mexico City starter Sasagi Sánchez when, with one out on the board, Héctor Gómez belted a homer right field to put Veracruz in front, 1-0. The Eagles again damaged the Diablos pitching in the fifth inning when Alexi Amarista stoked his fifth double of the season to send Kevin Flores and Alonso Gaitan home. Yasiel Puig then singled to left and brought in Amarista for Veracruz 'fourth run.

    In the fifth inning , the Aguilas put together a three-run frame as Alexei Amarista slashed a two-run double and later scored on a Puig single. One frame later, Alex Ortiz hit his first double of the season and drove in Héctor Mora. Then, with Puig at bat, Diablos reliever Armando Araiza uncorked a wild pitch to allow Amarista run from third to home plate, scoring the seventh run.

Unsworth being mobbed after final out

    In the top of the seventh, Unsworth lost his perfect game bid when Juan Carlos Gamboa reached base on a five-pitch walk. However the Aguilas defense supported their pitcher and avoided any damage the rest of the way. The Veracruz nine scored once more in the eighth inning, courtesy of Ortíz 'single to right, which plated Kevin Flores with the final tally of the night. Ortiz finished with three hits and three RBIs in the contest.

    It was a masterful performance by Unsworth, a 28-year-old righty who pitched in the Dodgers chain as well as in Venezuela and Australia following his release by Seattle in 2017. He only required 75 pitches over nine innings (58 of them strikes) for a complete game last ended 20 minutes shy of three hours even with Veracruz 'eight-run outburst in which 15 Aguila batsmen reached base via hit or walk. Sasagi took the loss for the Diablos after allowing four runs on five hits over 4.2 innings of work.

VERACRUZ AGUILAS NO-HITTER HISTORY
Martín Dihigo (1937) vs Nogales
Leroy Gaines (1940) vs Chihuahua
Anastacio Velázquez (1974) vs Chihuahua
Héctor Madrigal (1983) vs Ciudad Juárez
Leobardo Meza (1993) vs Laredo
Julio Hernández (1995) vs Diablos Rojos
Dylan Unsworth (2021) vs Red Devils

FINAL OLYMPIC BASEBALL QUALIFIER MOVED TO PUEBLA

Hermanos Serdan Stadium, Puebla

    The World Baseball and Softball Confederation (WBSC) revealed last Thursday that the Final Baseball Qualifier for the Olympic Games, to be played in Tokyo, will take place from June 22 to 26 at Estadio Hermanos Serdan, home of the Mexican League's Puebla Pericos.

    The qualifying tournament was originally going to take place in Taiwan at Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium, but safety concerns were raised over an increased outbreak of the Wuhan virus across the island nation that led to the cancellation of a week's worth of games in the Chinese Professional Baseball League. The WBSC determined that the final qualifier would instead take place in Mexico (particularly in Puebla) due to its strategic location.

    "The Olympic baseball qualifiers will have a safe and successful conclusion in Puebla, at the home of the Pericos of the Mexican Baseball League," WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari said in a press release. He added “The 'Road to Tokyo 2020' of baseball is already established, and for this I would like to extend the deepest gratitude of the entire WBSC family, to the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador; director of the National Commission for Physical Culture and Sports (CONADE) Ana Guevara; to the authorities of the State of Puebla and the owner of the Puebla Pericos club. "

    For his part, Pericos owner and team president José Miguel Bejos said, “We are very proud to host this important tournament and to welcome these teams. The work carried out in recent years allows us to showcase Puebla and the Pericos, and to stand out as one of the best organizations in the world. "

    The five teams that will compete in the last Olympic baseball qualifier include Australia, The Netherlands and Taiwan, while the other two teams will come out of the Baseball Qualifier of the Americas, a playoff that begins May 31 in Florida. The winner of that qualifier will punch their ticket to Tokyo while the second and third place teams will join the final playoff in Puebla.

    So far, four teams have qualified for the Olympics: Japan, Israel, Korea and Mexico.

    The tournament organizers will later announce the details about the allowed capacity in conjunction with what the corresponding authorities determine.

CANTU FIRST MEXICAN WITH 100 HRS IN BOTH MLB AND LMB

Cantu hitting first HR for Diablos in 2019

    Mexico City Diablos Rojos veteran slugger Jorge “El Bronco” Cantu opened a special section for players who have also played in the Mexican League by becoming the first Mexican to hit 100 home runs during the regular seasons of both MLB and the LMB.

    The historic blast came in the ninth inning of last Wednesday's game in Oaxaca against the Guerreros. With two teammates on board, Cantu smashed the ball over Estadio Eduardo Vasconcelos' right field wall for the final score to the game that his Mexico City Diablos Rojos won, 5-1.

    After playing eight seasons in the Major Leagues with five different teams with which he hit 104 home runs, Cantú returned to Mexico and fulfilled a promise he'd given to Cuauhtémoc “Chito” Rodríguez, former president of the Mexico City Tigres, that he'd play with the Bengals when his MLB days were over. Following two-and-a-half seasons with Quintana Roo between 2013 and 2016 (plus a one-year a stint in South Korea), Cantú was sent to Toros de Tijuana after having hit 63 home runs with the Tigres.

    With the Toros, he hit 24 more longballs between 2017 and 2018 before he reached an agreement with the Diablos, a club with which in 2019 he socked 12 more home runs to end the season with his LMB home run total at 99. The season in which he hit the most home runs was 2013 when he hit 31, only six less than that season's home run champion, Carmen's Rubén Mateo (who belted 37).

    The 39-year-old Cantu was born in the border city of Brownsville, Texas but grew up across the border in Reynosa. He was spotted by a Tampa Bay scout as a 16-year-old high schooler while playing in Mexico City during a Junior Olympics tournament in 1998 and offered a contract with the Rays. After signing, he made his pro debut with Class A Hudson Valley one year later and eventually reached the Majors with Tampa Bay in 2004, primarily as a second baseman.

    Cantu went on to some good seasons with the Rays (socking 28 homers and driving in 117 runs in 2005) and the Marlins (45 roundtrippers and 195 RBIs between 2008-09) before wrapping up his MLB career with San Diego in 2011. His 2014 season with the KBO's Doosan Bears saw him hit .309 with 18 homers in 111 games, but he came back to Mexico for good in 2015.

    Last Wednesday's roundtripper against the Guerreros will be recorded as the first of the season for Jorge Cantu but with another two months left in the Liga's abbreviated 66-game schedule for 2021, it likely won't be his last.

ADRIAN GONZALEZ TO PLAY IN GUADALAJARA IN 2021?

Adrian Gonzalez wants to play in Olympics

     Former MLB All-Star first baseman Adrian Gonzalez is reportedly interested in playing for the expansion Guadalajara Mariachis this summer after not appearing in a game since 2018. Puro Beisbol editor Fernando Ballesteros cites sources as saying that “El Titan” has reached a verbal agreement to suit up for the Mexican League team and is training for the upcoming season with hopes of appearing for Mexico in the Tokyo Olympics.

    Gonzales, who was born in San Diego to Mexican parents and grew up on both sides of the border, was the first overall pick of the 2001 MLB draft by the Marlins out of Eastlake High School in suburban Chula Vista and went on to play 15 seasons in the big leagues. He played in five All-Star Games (representing three teams in both leagues), won four Gold Gloves at the initial hassock and reached the playoffs five times after his 2004 debut with the Rangers.

    However, after four strong seasons with the Dodgers between 2013 and 2016, Gonzalez' 2017 campaign was cut short by back problems and he landed with the Mets as a free agent in 2018, when he hit .237 with six homers in 54 games before being released on June 11 of that year. He hasn't played in a game since. Gonzalez' career MLB totals include a .287 batting average with 2,050 hits, 317 homers and 1,202 RBIs.

    Although he is not a Mexican by birth certificate, Gonzalez (who turns 39 on May 8) has represented the county in every World Baseball Classic since its 2006 inception while playing in a number of Caribbean Series with the Mexican Pacific League champions. Although Gonzalez has never played in the Mexican League, he played winterball for Mazatlan alongside brother Edgar in the LMP for several seasons.

    His past flirtation with returning to the Mex Pac as a member of the Jalisco Charros and his preference for the Mariachis as an LMB landing spot are both logical, given that wife Betsy is a Guadalajara native. Earlier news stories stating that Gonzalez was a partner in the LMB's other expansion team, the Veracruz Aguilas, have been denied, since playing for the Mariachis would create an obvious conflict of interest.

El Titan as prep star

    Guadalajara team president Rafael Tejeda has said he'd be happy to have the ex-MLB star on his roster. The club has not yet named a manager for the upcoming season, although Charros skipper Benji Gil's name has been floated in several media outlets, and Gonzalez has been mentioned as a possible player-manager. The LMB office frowns on such arrangements, however, and forced respected veteran Saul Soto to step down as manager in Aguascalientes to concentrate on his playing duties in recent years.

    Even if/when Gonzalez suits up for the Mariachis this year, his pathway to a berth on Mexico's Olympic roster will be a harder one to follow. Verdes Grande manager Juan Castro, who coached under Dave Roberts in Los Angeles when Gonzalez was a Dodgers player, has publicly stated that he already has several good options for first basemen (arguably Mexico's deepest position), including the likes of Efren Navarro, Matt Clark, Japhet Amador and Jesse Castillo. Castro stressed that Gonzalez' two-plus years away from the diamond and the LMB's late start may make it tougher for him to regain his timing at the plate in time for the Olympics, which begin in late July, two months after the Liga season opens.

    On the other hand, Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, a baseball lover who handpicked Edgar Gonzalez to oversee the PROBEIS organization, directly intervened to keep four Mexican League teams from shutting down in 2019, forced the Mexican Pacific League to expand into Guasave and Monterrey that year and was behind the LMB's addition of both Veracruz and Guadalajara this season. As long as AMLO occupies the national palace in Mexico City, baseball and politics south of the border will never be far apart.

FOUR LMB TEAMS TO PLAY “BATTLE OF LEGENDS” IN PUEBLA

Pericos to host preseason tourney

    In a virtual press conference from Estadio Alfredo Harp Helú in Mexico City, the Mexican League's Puebla Pericos, Veracruz Aguilas, Oaxaca Guerreros and Mexico City Diablos Rojos announced a "Battle of Legends" preseason tournament scheduled take place from May 11-16 at Estadio Hermanos Serdán in Puebla. The event will consist of six doubleheaders among the LMB South rivals, although there will be no championship game. All contests will be broadcast live on social media for all four teams.

    The Battle of Legends will be carried out following sanitary measures prescribed by authorities in accordance with Mexico's “traffic light” system of dealing with the ongoing pandemic. The Mexico Daily News website on Saturday showed Puebla as one of eight states with “Orange Light” status, which means that limited activities with small or no public gatherings allowed. Conversely, Sonora joined Campeche and Chiapas as the three states with Green Light designations.

    Representatives of all four teams commented during the press conference. Pericos Sports VP Alfonso López said, “We're very proud of the work we've done. Hosting this tournament means that we've been doing things well in sports and administrative matters and we'll continue with the commitment to offer the fans the show they deserve.”

    Veracruz Sports Director Jesús “Chino” Valdez (who holds a similar role with the LMP's Mazatlan Venados) stated that “Without a doubt it will be a great test and very important for what we are doing in Veracruz...we hope to meet expectations and experience a competitive, joyful tournament and celebrate the return of the Mexican League.”

Estadio Hermanos Serdan, Puebla

    Mexico City GM Jorge Del Valle said, “The objective is to see these four great teams of our baseball heading towards the 2021 season. We are immensely grateful to all participants for making this a reality. You can be sure that the Diablos are going to take ourselves very seriously in this tournament.”

    And former second baseman Jaime Brena, Sports Manager of Oaxaca, said that, “We are very happy about participating in this tournament. It'll give us the opportunity to know which players we'll have in the regular season so we will take it as seriously as possible. We will bring a roster made up of 50 players.”

2021 BATTLE OF LEGENDS SCHEDULE
Tuesday, May 11: Oaxaca vs. Puebla, Veracruz vs. Mexico City
Wednesday, May 12: Mexico City vs. Veracruz, Puebla vs. Oaxaca
Thursday, May 13: Oaxaca vs. Puebla, Veracruz vs. Mexico City
Friday, May 14: Oaxaca vs. Veracruz, Mexico City vs. Puebla
Saturday, May 15: Puebla vs. Mexico City, Veracruz vs. Oaxaca
Sunday, May 16: Mexico City vs. Puebla, Oaxaca vs. Veracruz
GAME TIMES: First game 10:00AM, Second game 2:00PM

SEPTIMA ENTRADA REPORT: YEAR OF BASEBALL DURING PANDEMIC

    Ever since Mexico's first known positive case of the Wuhan virus was announced on February 27, 2020, the nation has been deeply affected by the subsequent pandemic, as have most of the world's countries. Baseball has been no exception, as Septima Entrada writer Irving Furlong details in this translated report noting the one-year mark of the virus:

Mexican Baseball League (LMB)

    The number of infections began to grow at the beginning of March, the same days that the teams of the Mexican League were starting the preseason, with some others beginning with their preparation games for the 2020 campaign.

    On March 14, the LMB office communicated its decision to postpone the start of the 2020 season to early May. As time passed and when conditions did not improve, league management decided to suspend the start of the campaign again until further notice. After several weeks of uncertainty, the Mexican League canceled its 2020 season on June 1.

    Now, the sights of the Mexican League are set on holding the 2021 season, with or without fans, and scheduled to start on May 20 with a schedule of 66 games per team.

Mexican Pacific League (LMP)

    Just a week after the summer league announced the cancellation of its season, the Mexican Pacific League confirmed its launch for the 2020-21 season, an edition that would be carried out "under the best possible conditions." Days before starting the regular season, the president of the circuit, Omar Canizales, announced a strategic alliance for five years with the gasoline company ARCO, thus transforming the name of the circuit to Liga ARCO Mexicana del Pacífico.

    Three cities in Sonora and Mexicali received the green light to open stadiums with limited attendance, yet the decision was reversed after the first weekend. Sinaloa was the only state that remained with its four stadiums open, and thus began the LMP's journey to determine a champion for the 2020-21 season.

    After just two weeks, different teams began experiencing COVID-19 outbreaks inside their locker rooms. Before conditions got even more complicated, the LMP decided to suspend the season for 11 days. The recess allowed all the organizations to finish the season with the coronation of the Culiacan Tomateros as the two-time champions of the league.

2021 Caribbean Series in Mazatlan

    The winter leagues made every effort to start their tournaments and crown their respective champions except for Panama, which decided to put together a squad with players from the rosters of the participating teams. After fighting several adversities, the Caribbean Series 2021 could be held in Mazatlán, a tournament in which the Dominican Republic won the championship for the second consecutive season, making the Cibaenas Águilas the first undefeated championship team with a 7-0 record.

Suspension of the 2020 Olympic Games

    After a historic qualification to the Tokyo Olympics in November 2019 by achieving third place after beating the United States for the second time during the Premier12, a tournament that brings together the twelve best baseball teams in the world, the appointment of the Mexican Baseball Team with the Olympic dream had to be postponed with the suspension of the tournament.

    A few months after Tokyo rescheduled the largest multi-sport event of the planet for 2021, the Mexican squad was surrounded by uncertainty as its general manager and manager both decried of lack of resources to put together the roster to send the national team to the Olympics for the first time.

    Despite that, Adrián González, the best Mexican hitter in MLB history, has said that he will seek a place on some LMB team while looking to get in shape to represent Mexico in the Olympics. Juan Castro, manager of the Mexican team, responded to the message by warning that four months before the trip to Japan, it is difficult to consider a player who has been out of professional activity for two years.

Mexico won 2018 WBSC U-23 World Cup

WBSC World Cups in Mexico

    The World Baseball and Softball Confederation (WBSC) was scheduled to hold five baseball world championships in Mexico during 2020, with the Women's Baseball World Cup and the U23 Baseball World Cup being the most important events of the world calendar.

    In the first, Mexico's women's team had qualified for the first time in history while in the men's tournament, Mexico is the defending champion after winning the title in Barranquilla, Colombia in 2018, the country's first world championship in the WBSC.

    Regarding the Baseball5 world championships, the WBSC did not even announce the dates on which they would be played. The U15 World Cup and the Women's World Cup were postponed to March 2021, but the two tournaments to be played in Tijuana were postponed indefinitely and the Confederation is still reviewing a final decision on rescheduling.

    The U23 World Cup, also delayed for a year, is expected to be held in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, and Ciudad Obregón, Sonora as announced in November 2021.

Meza recovers after shaky first, Puebla alive with 6-3 win

Puebla starting pitcher Andres Meza found himself in an early hole after coughing up three Tijuana runs on three hits, a walk and a hit batsman in the top of the first inning, but settled down to allow just two more singles before being replaced in the sixth as the Pericos scored the final six runs of the game in a 6-3 win over the Toros Saturday in Puebla.  The Game Four victory prevented the visiting Toros from sweeping the Mexican League's Serie del Rey championship finals as a sellout crowd of 12,112 jammed Estadio Hermanos Serdan to see their defending champs live to fight another day (in particular, Sunday's Game Five in Puebla).

PUEBLA 6-10-0, Tijuana 3-7-0 (Tijuana leads Serie del Rey, 3 games to 1)
W-Meza (1-0).  L-Mitre (0-1).  SV-Heath (1).  A-12,112.  T-2:59.

Tijuana jumped on Meza right off the bat, as leadoff hitter Jose Guadalupe Chavez poked a single to right field and moved to second when Roberto Lopez followed with a safety into left.  Meza then issued his only walk of the night to Corey Brown to load the bases, then gave Chavez a free stroll to home plate from third by plunking Toros cleanup batter Cyle Hankerd, putting TJ up, 1-0.  With the sacks still juiced and nobody out, Jorge Cantu strode to the plate and lofted a double to left that scored both Lopez and Brown to make it 3-0.  Hankerd rounded third too far on the play and got caught in a pickle before being tagged out by Meza while Cantu continued to third.  Dustin Martin and Juan Apodaca both popped out to shortstop Alberto Carreon (the latter in foul territory) to end the inning with Cantu stranded on third.

The Pericos got one run back in the bottom of the second when Sergio Perez punched a one-out single through the right side of the infield off Toros starter Sergio Mitre to score Cesar Tapia from second, but it was the bottom of the fourth when Puebla took the lead with a four-run outburst.

After Ricky Rodriguez flew out to open the inning, Tapia singled up the middle and soon advanced to second when Mitre sent a wild pitch to Hector Garanzuay. Garanzuay, who has hit .385 over twelve playoff games, then sent a double to left, bringing in Tapia from second to bring the Pericos a run away from tying the game.  Perez then sent a slow roller to Chavez at short for an infield single as Garanzuay stayed put on second.  Carreon then cracked a ground-rule double bounding over the right field wall, scoring Garanzuay with the tying run and sending Perez to third.

By then, Carlos Hernandez had thrown enough warmup pitches in the bullpen to be brought in by TJ skipper Pedro Mere, replacing Mitre.  Things started well enough for Hernandez, who got Julio Borbon to hit into a 6-3 groundout to short for the second out, but ex-MLBer Endy Chavez lashed a double to left that scored Perez and Carreon to put the Parrots ahead, 5-3.

Meza had retired 11 of the last 13 batters he faced before Puebla's four-run fourth and he sat down the next four hitters after that before manager Tim Johnson pulled him for Mario Morales with one out in the sixth.  Morales held the fort through the top of the seventh before closer Deunte Heath came on for the final two frames.  The Pericos scored one more insurance run in the bottom of the eighth off Toros reliever Carlos Fisher.  Rodriguez hit a one-out single up the middle and stole second before scoring on a Garanzuay single to give the hosts a 6-3 advantage.  Heath then held Tijuana scoreless in the top of the ninth to preserve Puebla's first win of the series, earning the save.

Meza finished with 5.1 inning pitched, giving up those three first-inning tallies before locking the door.  The 31-year-old righty from Culiacan struck out four and walked one on 80 pitches.  Mitre took the loss after allowing five runs on seven hits and a walk in 3.1 innings of work.  The Pericos outhit the Toros by a 10-to-7 margin, as Rodriguez, Garanzuay and Perez each had two hits while Garanzuay and Perez each drove in two runs.  Chavez, Cantu and Alex Liddi each had two of the Toros' seven hits but the visitors were unable to advance a runner past second base following the opening inning.

 The two teams will play Game Five Sunday in Puebla at 1PM local time before the series shifts back to Tijuana for the final two games, if necessary.  The Pericos will send Josh Roenicke to the mound against the Toros' Miguel Pena.  Roenicke, who pitched for four major league teams between 2008 and 2013, was reached for four runs on six hits and four walks over 5.1 innings in Tijuana's 8-2 Serie del Rey opener win on September 5.  Pena started for the Toros that night, giving up two runs on four hits and two walks in five innings, but did not get the decision.

Ramirez, TJ blank Puebla, 4-0; Toros poised for title sweep

Horacio Ramirez turned in his third consecutive sterling playoff start for Tijuana on Friday night, tossing seven-plus innings of five-hit shutout ball while Roberto Lopez had two hits and socked a homer as the Toros went on to whitewash Puebla, 4-0, in the Mexican League championship series.  A season-high crowd at 11,906 at Puebla's Estadio Hermanos Serdan saw their hometown Pericos drop their third straight game in the Serie del Rey, putting Tijuana on the cusp of a four-game sweep for the border city's first-ever professional baseball pennant.

Tijuana 4-7-1, PUEBLA 0-6-2 (Tijuana leads series, 3 games to 0)
W-H. Ramirez (1-0).  L-Outman (0-1).  A-11,906.  T-2:40.

As Hurricane Katia neared landfall on the state of Veracruz to the east, Puebla remained dry long enough for the visiting Tijuana Toros to top the defending champion Pericos, 4-0, to reach the brink of an LMB Serie del Rey sweep after losing in six games last season to the Parrots.  Former big league starter Horacio Ramirez, ten weeks away of his 37th birthday, turned in another stellar performance for skipper Pedro Mere's Bulls to post his third consecutive playoff win.

TJ opened the scoring in the top of the fourth inning after Ramirez and Puebla opener Josh Outman traded zeros through the first three entradas.  Cyle Hankerd was plunked by an Outman pitch to lead things off for Tijuana, then moved to second after a Jorge Cantu strikeout when Outman walked Dustin Martin.  Hankerd and Martin both advanced a base when Puebla first baseman Nate Freiman mishandled a Juan Apodaca grounder and was unable to make the out at first.  Johnson appealed the call, but replays upheld first base umpire Humberto Saiz' decision.  Hankerd then came in to break the scoreless tie on Alex Liddi's fielder's choice grounder up the middle.

The Toros extended their lead with a pair of runs in the fifth.  Roberto Lopez' one-out homer to left put the visitors ahead, 2-0.  Corey Brown then singled, stole second during an Outman walk to Hankerd, moved to third on a 6-4 forceout at second on a Cantu ground ball and plated a run on Martin's liner into left.  The final run of the night was pushed across in the top of the sixth as Liddi walked to open the inning, took second on Isaac Rodriguez' 1-3 comebacker to Outman on the hill and moved to third on an Outman wild pitch to Jose Guadalupe Chavez before scoring on Chavez' single to right to put the score at 4-0.

Ramirez carried his cushioned shutout two outs into the eighth, when Mere brought in Juan Sandoval from the bullpen after a walk to Pericos shortstop Alberto Carreon. Sandoval did what he's been doing since the opening series against Aguascalientes, closing out the eighth and turning in a scoreless ninth to mark his ninth consecutive postseason appearance without being scored upon, giving up two hits and striking out five over 9.2 innings.  Sandoval has pitched heroically in the playoffs for Tijuana, forming a terrific troika from the bullpen with middleman Mark Serrano and closer Jason Urquidez, both of whom were rested Friday.  While the Toros starters haven't always had it easy, those three relievers have been lights-out since the first round against the Rieleros.

But the true hero of the night was Ramirez.  Treated roughly at times by Seattle fans when he pitched for the Mariners in 2007 (one teammate was current Tijuana GM Jorge Campillo), going 8-7 in 20 starts but with a 7.16 ERA, the 6'1" lefty was rock-solid during his 7.2-inning stint, allowing no runs on five hits and two walks. Although Friday marked Ramirez' second straight outing with no strikeouts, the win was his third straight in the playoffs after beating Monterrey twice in the LMB North finals.  The Californian also registered four shutout innings at Aguascalientes in an August 17 no-decision.  His postseason ERA is now 1.13 in 24 total innings.

Outman took the loss for the Pericos, but the former Oakland starter/Colorado middleman did not pitch all that badly, giving up three earned runs in 5.1 innings on six hits.  However, the 32-year-old lefty had control problems for his second start in a row with four walks, making it nine Annie Oakleys (look it up) over his last 10.1 innings.  Lopez and Hankerd both had two hits for the winners, with the former homering and the latter doubling.  Six different Puebla batters had one hit apiece as Carreon and Cesar Tapia each hit two-baggers.

Two more games (if Game Four is scheduled for Saturday night in Puebla as Pericos manager Tim Johnson sends Andres Meza to the mound against former big leaguer Sergio Mitre for the Toros.  Meza was 5-6 with a 5.06 ERA in the regular season, but shut Leon out over 5.1 innings in the first round of the playoffs and beat Yucatan in the LMB South title set clincher, 4-3, on August 31.  Mitre was a combined 5-3 and 3.10 in nine game (eight of them starts) for Leon and Tijuana.  The ex-Yankees reliever has pitched in three postseason games, going 1-1 with a 1.54 ERA, shutting out Aguascalientes over four frames of relief in a 4-0 Game Five win in the LMB North semis on August 18.

However, it remains to be seen as this is written whether Hurrican Katia allows either game to be played.  Baseball may be life to some, but life itself is bigger than baseball.  Between life and baseball, only one is a game. Cuidense, muchachos!

Leones-Pericos game in Puebla rained out (again)

Wednesday's scheduled Game Five of the Mexican League's South Division championship series in Puebla was rained out, marking the second time in three days the Pericos and visiting Yucatan Leones were unable to get some baseball in.  The defending champion Pericos, who finished a fairly distant second to the Leones in the LMB South during the regular season, lead the series, 3 games to 1, and will seek to close out the series with Andres Meza tabbed as Thursday's starting pitcher.  Yucatan will try to stay alive by sending James Russell to the mound for the 1:00PM ET contest at Estadio Hermanos Serdan in the colonial city.

Weather permitting, of course.

Meanwhile, the Tijuana Toros stand one game away from their second consecutive trip to the Serie del Rey. Manager Pedro Mere's squad has a 3-games-to-2 edge over rivals Monterrey in the LMB North title series. The Toros won the first two games of their set at home before dropping two of three at Estadio Monterrey. Following Wednesday's travel day, the two sides will lock horns again Thursday night at 7:35PM ET at Tijuana's Estadio Gasmart.  Former major leaguer Horacio Ramirez will throw the game's first pitch for the Toros while the Sultanes try to stave off elimination with Angel Castro starting for Felix Fermin's club.

2016 Mexican League Championship Series schedule

Game 1: Wednesday, Sept. 7, Puebla at Tijuana, Estadio Gasmart, 10:30pm ET
Game 2: Thursday, Sept. 8, Puebla at Tijuana, Estadio Gasmart, 10:30pm ET

Game 3: Saturday, Sept. 10, Tijuana at Puebla, Estadio Hermanos Serdan, 5:00pm ET
Game 4: Sunday, Sept. 11, Tijuana at Puebla, Estadio Hermanos Serdan,   2:00pm ET
Game 5: Monday, Sept. 12, Tijuana at Puebla, Estadio Hermanos Serdan,   8:00pm ET

Game 6: Wednesday, Sept. 14, Puebla at Tijuana, Estadio Gasmart, 10:30pm ET
Game 7: Thursday, Sept. 15, Puebla at Tijuana, Estadio Gasmart, 10:30pm ET

Games in italics played as necessary