Generales' Mayora hitting streak reaches 32 games

While the surprising Durango Generales have climbed past Saltillo out of the Mexican League's Northern Division cellar, the team has cooled down a bit by winning 5 of their past 10 games.  One Durango player who remains hot is third baseman Daniel Mayora, who singled in a 4-3 loss at Tijuana Sunday to stretch his current hitting streak to 32 games, putting the Venezuelan four games away from tying the LMB record of 36.

Mayora (pictured) is a 31-year-old in his 13th season of pro ball, making his LMB debut this year after toiling in the Rockies, Rays, Giants and Dodgers system since 2005.  He's played in five All-Star Games and been a postseason all-leaguer twice (Northwest League in 2006, South Atlantic League in 2007), reaching as high as AAA Durham in 2011.  He spent last summer batting .311 with Rimini in the Italian League.  Like the rest of his Generales teammates, not much was expected of Mayora in 2017 before he began his run by singling in a game at Laguna on May 6.  Since then, he's gone 49-for-125 (.392) at the plate to raise his season batting average from .328 to 360, good for eighth in the Liga table.  

Mayora hasn't necessarily overwhelmed LMB pitchers, collecting one hit in 19 contests during his 32-game skein, but he has homered six times since the streak began.  The current Mexican League single-season record hitting streak of 36 was set by Saltillo's Luis de los Santos in 2000 and tied by Carlos Gastelum of Quintana Roo in 2012.  Puebla first baseman Willis Otanez hit safely in 37 consecutive games, but that was spread over two seasons: The former MLBer ended the 2009 season with a 15-game hitting streak and began the 2010 campaign with a 22-game run en route to winning BBM's Summer MVP Award that year.

By sweeping Durango in their weekend home series (attended by 39,688 fans over three games), Tijuana extended their winning streak to five games and closed the gap on LMB North-leading Monterrey, who dropped two of three to Aguascalientes at Estadio Monterrey.  The Sultanes still hold the Liga's best record at 41-20, but the Toros are now just two-and-a-half games back at 39-23 while Monclova scored 32 runs in their three-game sweep of Saltillo to solidify their hold on third with a 37-25 mark.  Aguascalientes and Union Laguna are tied for fourth at 34-29, one game ahead of 33-30 Mexico City.  Durango and Saltillo are six and seven games behind the Diablos, respectively.

There's little drama to report from the LMB South, where Yucatan is running away with things at 39-21, ten games ahead of second-place Puebla (30-32).  The defending champion Pericos added to what's become a season of intrigue for Gerardo Benadives' two LMB teams by firing manager Von Hayes last Monday and replacing him with another ex-MLBer Tim Johnson, who'd been managing Benavides' Northern Mexican League team in San Luis Rio Colorado.  Johnson, who managed the Toronto Blue Jays to an 88-74 record in 1998, was rumored to be the eventual skipper in Monclova (Benavides' other LMB team) after Wally Backman was fired last month, but Jorge Loredo led the Acereros to eight wins in his first nine games as interim helmsman to make another change unnecessary.  As for Backman?  He was brought to Puebla as a bench coach under Hayes and presumably holds the same role for Johnson.  However, the Pericos website still lists Hayes as manager with no mention of the former Mets infielder.

Quintana Roo is in a virtual tie with Puebla at 28-30, ahead of Veracruz (28-33), Oaxaca (27-33) and Campeche (26-35) as four games separate five teams between second and sixth place.  Four teams will reach the postseason in the LMB South and at this point, three will be there by default.  Mexico City, whose ownership fought to remain in the North (relegating Leon to the South even though Leon sits farther north than the capital city), would have been two-and-a-half games ahead of Puebla and the Tigres in second if geography had won the alignment debate.  Instead, the Diablos sit in sixth place in the LMB North.

Yadir Drake of Durango continues to lead the league in batting with an even .400 average, but Monterrey centerfielder Chris Roberson has gone an incredible 19-for-36 (.528) over his last nine games to lift his average up to .398.  Roberson, a 37-year-old Oakland native who became a naturalized Mexican citizen over the past year, is having an MVP-worthy season thus far.  He's the first Liga player in 2017 to reach double figures in both homers (12) and stolen bases (11).  Tijuana teammates Corey Brown and Alex Liddi are tied for the lead in homers with 15 each, one ahead of Durango's Drake.  Laguna first baseman Ricky Alvarez continues his productive campaign with 66 RBIs in 63 games, eight more than Brown.  One player who probably deserves to join Roberson and others in the MVP conversation at the midway point of the season is Saltillo outfielder Justin Greene (pictured).  The South Carolinian had a pair of 4-hit games last week en route to raising his batting average to .361 with 9 homers and he continues to terrorize opposing pitchers and catchers alike with 33 steals to easily top the circuit in that category.  He's also been caught stealing 12 times, tying Laguna's Welington Dotel for the LMB lead.  For his part, Dotel is terrorizing his third base coach by going 11-of-23 in steals attempts, which says something (most likely "STAY!").

Mexican League pitchers haven't had the easiest time of it in 2017, with three teams hitting .300 or better and another four in the .290's.  Conversely, three teams have ERAs below 4.00 while another five clubs are above 5.00.  Leon's Mitch Lively is back in the starting rotation after working his way back from an apparent injury suffered in May and leads the circuit with a 1.82 average.  A closer last year when the team labored in Reynosa, Lively has walked just 9 hitters in 49 innings while building a 6-1 record.  Oaxaca lefty Irwin Delgado beat Campeche Sunday to win his fifth consecutive start and take the Liga lead with 9 wins on the season.  Delgado struck out only two Piratas batsmen over seven frames and has been overtaken by Monclova's Josh Lowey, 77 to 76, in the LMB whiff wars.  Lowey has struck out 10 batters in each of his last two starts, including a loss at Aguascalientes last Wednesday during which he allowed one run in seven innings.  Durango's Tiago da Silva continues to excel for the Liga's worst-pitching team, topping the loop with 20 saves in 21 opportunities to go with a 1.89 ERA.  The Generales team ERA is 5.85, which tells you how much the Brazilian has meant to them.  In a curious roster move last week, Yucatan released closer Jairo Asencio (who spent time in MLB with four teams between 2009 and 2013) even though he was second with 16 saves and had a 2.42 ERA.  The 34-year-old Dominican hadn't allowed an earned run since May 14.

With the All-Star Game in Campeche scheduled for next weekend, this will be a short week for regular season games.  The biggest midweek series looks to be in Tijuana, where the Toros will host Monclova in a battle of teams that many preseason prognosticators had going 1-2 in the LMB North.  The top series in the South may be when Oaxaca visits Puebla.  The Guerreros swept a Sunday home doubleheader against Campeche to pull within a half-game of fourth place.  Raymundo Torres' two-run walkoff homer won the opener for Delgado's ninth victory while Samar Leyva's walkoff two-run single capped a Oaxaca comeback win in the nightcap.

MEXICAN LEAGUE STANDINGS

North Division: Monterrey 41-20, Tijuana 39-23, Monclova 37-25, Aguascalientes 34-29, Union Laguna 34-29, Mexico City 33-30, Durango 27-36, Saltillo 25-36.

South Division: Yucatan 39-21, Puebla 30-32, Quintana Roo 28-30, Veracruz 28-33, Oaxaca 27-33, Campeche 26-35, Tabasco 23-38, Leon 20-41.

LMB: Leones lengthen lead, Paquin packing, Robo rolling

While the Mexican League's Northern Division has been a dogfight over the first month of the 2017 regular season, the LMB South has been more or less the sole domain of the Yucatan Leones thus far.  The 21-11 Lions are the hottest team in the Liga right now, winning 11 of their last 13 games to pull into a five-and-a-half game lead over defending champion Puebla and Campeche (both 15-16 on the season as Yucatan is the sole team with a winning record iu the LMB South).

Pitching has always been a mainstay of Yucatan baseball and it remains a team hallmark this year at Merida's Estadio Kukulcan.  The Leones are third in the Liga with a team ERA of 3.67 and tied with Tijuana for second with a 1.34 WHIP (Monterrey leads in both categories at 3.19 and 1.22, respectively) behind the starting pitching of 2016 Pitcher of the Year Yoanner Negrin (5-1 and 2.64) and two-time All-Star Juan Delgadillo (4-1 and 3.41), but it's really the bullpen that's carried the mound staff.  Five relievers have ERAs of 3.00 or less, with former MLBer Jairo Asencio thriving in the closer's role with a 1-0 record, 12 saves and a 2.12 ERA.  Asencio has allowed 13 hits and two walks in 17 innings for an 0.88 WHIP while striking out 19 batsmen.

The Leones offense has been steady if unspectacular, with very few holes in the batting order.  While Yucatan's team batting average of .280 is in the bottom half of that league table, they've benefitted from opportunistic hitting from the likes of LF Jesus "Cacao" Valdez (.360 with 2 homers and 15 RBIs), RF Leo Heras (.345/2/14), 2B Jordany Valdespin (.298/2/18) and SS Esteban Quiroz (.281/3/16).  Former Mariners IF Yuniesky Betancourt (.325/1/9) signed with the Leones in the offseason but wasn't activated until April 26. After starting off 1-for-15 over his first four games, Betancourt has since gone 12-for-25 (.480) while building up a seven-game hitting streak through last weekend's series with Veracruz.  The Leones will never bludgeon opponents offensively like Laguna has been doing as long as they play in pitching-friendly Estadio Kukulcan, but this year's batting order looks to be a death-by-a-thousand-cuts proposition for the pitchers facing them.

Where Yucatan has been able to create some breathing room between themselves and the rest of the division, the Leon Bravos faded badly following a decent start after playing the first two weeks of the season on the road, and that cost manager Francisco "Paquin" Estrada his job.  Estrada had already survived a spring of uncertainty due to his reported virtual kidnapping episode during training camp, which drew international attention, and living out of a suitcase for the first five series of the regular season before Leon hosted its first home game on April 19 (a day after the scheduled opener was postponed due to a power outage at Estadio Domingo Santana).  Although the Bravos blanked Mexico City, 8-0, in their Leon debut, the team then won just two of their next 14 games, marked by three four-game losing streaks before Estrada got the axe prior to last weekend's series at home against Tabasco with the team at 10-20.  Estrada was replaced at the helm by Luis Carlos Rivera (pictured), who then steered the Bravos to a three-game sweep of the Olmecas to bring them up to 13-20 on the season.  Rivera, a former pitcher who had cups of MLB coffee with Atlanta and Baltimore in 2000, spent 11 years in pro ball before retiring in 2010 at age 32.

Meanwhile, in the Northern Division, Tijuana continued to ride the hot bats of OFs Cyle Hankerd (.351/8/32), Dustin Martin (.307/6/30) and Corey Brown (.291/12/41) to cobble together a six-game winning streak for an LMB-best record of 23-9, but Monterrey sits a half-step behind at 22-9.  As mentioned, the Sultanes have received some very good pitching this spring, particularly from starters Angel Castro (4-0 and 2.33) and Ken Sigman (3-0, 3.41), closer Wirfin Obispo (3-1, 1.11 with 4 saves) and now Alfredo Aceves (3.12 in two starts).  However, you have to go to the top of the Monterrey batting order to put a finger on the catalyst.

Leadoff hitter Chris Roberson, an Oakland native who married a Mexican woman and has achieved dual citizenship, has topped the .300 mark all six years he's patrolled center field for the Sultanes, averaging 19 stolen bases and 12 homers per season along the way.  This year, Robo is outdoing himself early by leading the LMB with a .435 average, 19 points ahead of Saltillo 2B Luis Borges, while his 10 homers are second in the loop.  As befits his leadoff status, Roberson's 31 runs scored are tied for third in the Liga with Laguna 1B Ricky Alvarez, trailing only two other Vaqueros, RF Jonathan Jones (34) and 2B Anderson Hernandez (32).  Tijuana's Brown launched a pair of homers in Aguascalientes last Thursday to bring his roundtripper total to 12 for the season, two ahead of Roberson.  Alvarez' 45 RBIs are tops in the circuit, four more than Brown and Monclova 1B Matt Clark.  Saltillo OF Justin Greene continues to lead in stolen bases with 11 swipes, but has just one steal since April 25.  Tijuana's Martin and Laguna LF Ethan Martin are tied for second with nine steals each.

Among pitchers, nobody broke the six-win barrier but Yucatan's Negrin joined Frankie de la Cruz of Saltillo and Laguna's Edgar Osuna and Dustin Crenshaw in the five-win circle.  Negrin, whose April 13 loss to Mexico City was his first in the regular season since May 1 of last year, is 5-1 thus far in 2017 with a 2.64 ERA that ranks tenth in the LMB.  That category is led by Saltillo's Raul Carrillo, who shows a 1.27 figure after four starts and three relief appearances to go with a 1-1 record. Leon's Walter Silva is second at 1.72 to go with his 3-2 mark.  Irwin Delgado of Oaxaca has passed Monclova's Josh Lowey in the strikeout derby, 43 to 41.  Delgado has one more start and seven more innings than Lowey, whose 1.11 whiffs per inning tops Delgado's .98 rate.  In the saves department, Yucatan's Asencio (12) has overtaken Durango's Brazilian closer Tiago da Silva (11) after converting his last six save opportunities.  Da Silva continues to pitch well for the Generales, with a 1.88 ERA, but the LMB's 2014 Reliever of the Year hasn't had a lead to preserve with Durango in the throes of a 12-game losing streak through last weekend.

On the schedule this week, the top midweek series will be in Monterrey, when the Laguna Vaqueros visit for a meeting of the Liga's top offense versus the league's best pitching staff.  The Vaqueros are third behind Tijuana and Monterrey in the LMB North at 21-12.  Campeche hosts Yucatan for three games between Tuesday and Thursday in an important trio of LMB South games.

Next weekend's biggest series appears to be the Monclova-Laguna set in Torreon.  The Acereros were predicted to challenge for a pennant in 2017 after most of last year's key players on Puebla's title team were moved north by Gerardo Benavides (who owns both teams) to augment an already-solid Monclova roster, but the team has not performed to expectations thus far, starting this week with an 18-15 record.  The club did win four straight games last week, including a sweep of reeling Durango, but Benavides (whose grandfather founded the team in 1974) is in "win now" mode and while it's no secret that manager Wally Backman would leave Mexico in a heartbeat if a better offer came along, his team needs to do better or his exit may not be in concert with another gig north of the border.  As the saying goes, "Wherever you go, there you are" and, Wally, right now you're in Monclova with a very talented team and one of the Liga's most loyal fan bases.  Make the most of it.