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.

Toros clip Pericos, 5-3, to go up two game in Serie del Rey

Tijuana Toros catcher Juan Apodaca

Roberto Lopez had two doubles and two singles with one run scored while Juan Apodaca collected three hits, including a key solo homer, to lead the Tijuana Toros to a 5-3 win over Puebla Wednesday night in Game Two of the Mexican League's best-of-7 Serie del Rey championship finals at Tijuana.

The Toros now lead by a 2-games-to-0 margin heading into Friday's battle in Puebla.  Josh Outman is the likely starter for the Pericos while Tijuana manager Pedro Mere is expected to counter with Horacio Ramirez on Friday.  Saturday's Game Four will feature the Toros' Miguel Pena going up against Andres Meza for Puebla.

TIJUANA 5-12-0, Puebla 3-10-0 (Tijuana leads series, 2 games to 0)
W-M. Serrano (1-0).  L-H. Garcia (0-11).  SV-Urquidez (1).  A-16,231.  T-3:03.

The Toros took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning when Jose Guadalupe Chavez led the frame off with a sharp single to right off Pericos starter Jaime Lugo, followed two outs later by a line-drive homer over the wall in left-center off the bat of Cyle Hankerd.  Puebla responded with three runs in the top of the fifth to take the lead.  Jesus Arredondo and Ricky Rodriguez hit back-to-back, one-out doubles, with Arredondo scoring on Rodriguez' two-bagger to put the visitors on the board.  After Cesar Tapia grounded to Chavez at short for the second out, longtime second baseman Hector Garanzuay, in his first year with Puebla after being jettisoned from Monclova following eleven summers with the Acereros, lofted an Alex Sanabia delivery over TJ rightfielder Dustin Martin for a two-run homer to put Puebla up, 3-2.

Following a scoreless fifth for both teams, Tijuana tied the contest in the bottom of the sixth on Apodaca's solo homer to left, which would turn out to be Lugo's last pitch of the evening.  The Toros added two more runs in the seventh.  Roberto Lopez led off with a double and advanced to third on Corey Brown's groundout to Rodriguez at first.  At that point, Puebla manager Tim Johnson replaced reliever Henry Garcia with Adrian C. Ramirez, who intentionally walked Hankerd to pitch to ex-MLBer Jorge Cantu.  The former Marlin hit a sacrifice fly to Julio Borbon in center to score Lopez with the go-ahead tally.  Ramirez then walked Dustin Martin (unintentionally) before letting up an Apodaca single that scored Hankerd from second to give the Toros a 5-3 advantage.  Pericos closer Deunte Heath came in a little early, but got the final out to end the seventh with no further damages.

Tijuana setup man Juan Sandoval extended his string of scoreless playoff appearances to eight games with a 1-2-3 eighth inning (only allowing one single over 8.1 frames), but closer Jason Urquidez struggled in the ninth after the Toros went down runless in the bottom of the eighth.  After getting Rodriguez looking for a leadoff strikeout, Urquidez gave up back-to-back singles to Tapia and Garanzuay to put the tying runs on base.  Urquidez settled down after that, getting Sergio Perez to fly out to Roberto Lopez in left and slipping a third strike past Alberto Carreon to end the game with the save and a Toros win, putting Tijuana up in the series, 2 games to 0.

Lopez ended with a 4-for-5 night at the plate for TJ, doubling twice and scoring once, while Apodaca was 3-for-5 with a homer and three RBIs.  Garanzuay led the Pericos with three hits, including his two-run homer in the fourth.  Middleman Mark Serrano pitched a scoreless seventh for the win in his sixth consecutive appearance without allowing a run.  Garcia took the loss for Puebla after giving up the leadoff double in the seventh to Lopez, who eventually scored the game-winning run after Garcia had already exited.  Interesting to note that Tijuana's win in Tuesday's opener marked the first time a home team had won a game when the Toros and Pericos met in 2017.  During the regular season, the teams were 3-3 against each other after the Bulls swept a May three-game series in Puebla, with thee Pericos taking three in Tijuana in a mid-June set.  A crowd of 16,231 attended Wednesday's contest at Estadio Gasmart for a two-day total attendance of 31,336 in the Baja California Norte city.

The two teams will take Thursday off as a travel day before playing Game Three on Friday at Puebla's Estadio Hermanos Serdan.  One interesting subtext to this series has been the postseason attendance in the colonial city after owner Gerardo Benavides threatened to move the Pericos out of town for 2018.  The Parrots finished ninth on the LMB attendance tables with 3,186 fans per opening over 48 home games for a total of 152,923.  After averaging 7,226 for two wins during the first round sweep over Quintana Roo, Puebla fans came out in force for the LMB South championship series against Yucatan, with 33,623 attending the three home games against the Leones.

Benavides has played the role of carpetbagger owner after transferring over twenty players from last year's Pericos championship team to his hometown Monclova Acereros for 2017, but he'll have a harder time justifying a postseason move.  Juarez has reportedly been considered, but battles involving drug cartels in cities along the Mexico-Texas border have made baseball a tough sell in places like Juarez and Nuevo Laredo (rumored to be a potential 2018 destination for the Veracruz Rojos del Aguila, although questions about who actually OWNS the Aguilas have put any future plans on hold).

привет нашим российским хакерам

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.

Jorge Cantu hoists LMB North title trophy
Photo courtesy of Rich McDaniel

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 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.

Спасибо за прочтение

Mexican League results for Saturday, Apr. 2

MONCLOVA 6-13-0, Mexico City 0-6-1
W-N. Rodriguez (2-1). L-E. Valdez (0-1).
Hector Garanzuay (pictured) drove in three runs and Nerio Rodriguez scattered five hits in six innings for Acereros.

Oaxaca 6-10-0, VERACRUZ 3-7-0
W-R. Valdez (1-1). L-A. Elvira (0-1).
Guerreros prevailed despite two homers by Aguilas’ Juan Guzman, who now has 10 roundtrippers in 13 games.

MINATITLAN 9-16-0, Puebla 4-12-3
W-J. Martinez (1-0). L-O. Espinoza (0-3).
Dutch National Team vet Sharnol Adriana hit two-run single and homered for Petros.

Quintana Roo 4, REYNOSA 0
W-E. Llamas (1-0). L-R. Gonzalez (1-2).
Jorge Campillo, Eder Llamas and two relievers combined on four-hit blanking while Iker Franco went deep for Tigres.

Campeche 9-14-0, TABASCO 3-7-0
W-A. Armenta (2-0). L-Gonzalez (1-1).
Javier Robles doubled and crashed a three-run homer while Luis Matos was 3-for-4 with two-run shot for Piratas.

Saltillo 6-8-0, LAGUNA (3-9-1)
W-J. Mercedes (1-1). L-R. Garcia (0-3).
Jose Rodriguez swatted a three-run homer to back Saraperos starter Jose Mercedes’ solid (7 IP/3ER) work.

Yucatan 6-16-0, MONTERREY 5-13-0
W-H. Ruelas (1-0). L-A. Ramirez (0-1).
Luis Carlos Garcia and Said Gutierrez slice consecutive RBI singles in ninth to give Leones a comeback win.