Mexicali advances, LMP semi field determined

The Mexicali Aguilas were stretched to ten innings before finally winning in Navojoa, 6-4, Sunday night to win their Mexican Pacific League playoff series, 4 games to 2, and join Los Mochis in the LMP semifinals. In Sunday's other first round game, Hermosillo snuck past Culiacan, 5-4, at Estadio de los Tomateros.  That series is tied at three games apiece, meaning both teams will advance to the Final Four regardless of Monday night's Game Seven outcome because the series loser will have three wins, more than Navojoa's two victories and Mazatlan's one to qualify for the fourth "Lucky Loser" berth coming out of the opening round's three series.


Mexicali 6-13-2, NAVOJOA 4-9-2

Jon Del Campo (pictured) broke a 4-4 tie in the top of the tenth inning by scoring on Emmanuel Avila's bases-loaded groundout as the Mexicali Aguilas went on to beat Navojoa, 6-4, Sunday to win their opening round series in six games.  A crowd of 10,976 nearly filled Navojoa's Estadio Manuel "Ciclon" Echeverria.

The Mayos scored in the bottom of the first inning when Alan Sanchez singled in Yosmany Guerra from second base with the game's first run.  The hosts then made it a 3-0 lead in the third on back-to-back RBI singles from Sanchez and Jesus Castillo off Mayos starter Kameron Loe.  Mexicali came back to knot the game up with three fourth-inning runs, starting with C.J. Retherford's leadoff homer off Mayos starter Troy Marks, who went on to give up one more run on a Del Campo single and load the bases before issuing a two-out walk to Yordanys Linares that pushed Del Campo across with the tying run.  The Aguilas took the lead in the fifth on Xorge Carrillo's run-scoring single, but Navojoa fought back with a tally in the bottom of the frame when Quincy Latimore singled in Guerra with the latter's third run of the game.

Both teams swapped zeros from the sixth through the ninth frames to send to contest into overtime, when Mayos reliever Esteban Haro loaded the bases with no outs in the top of the tenth.  Pinch-hitter Avila then sent a grounder to Navojoa first sacker Castillo, who tagged first for the out and then threw home to force Del Campo at the plate, but catcher Omar Renteria failed to make the catch and Mexicali took the lead.  Mayos manager Matias Carrillo finaly gave Haro the hook, but the damage proved irreversable.  Jesus Garcia intentionally walked Yuniesky Betancourt to fill the bases for Retherford, whose sacrifice fly to left plated Ramon Rios to give the Aguilas a 6-4 advantage.  It was then left to Mexicali closer Jake Sanchez to finish the job for the series-clinching win (and his third playoff save) by pitching a scoreless tenth.

Jose Manuel Lopez pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for the Aguilas to earn the win while Haro, who'd also tossed a scoreless ninth, took the loss.  Del Campo finished with a perfect 4-for-4 night for Mexicali batting from the eighth slot in the order while Retherford went 2-for-5 with a homer, two RBIs and two runs scored.  Latimore had three singles for the Mayos, who'd been the top seed when the playoffs opened.


Hermosillo 5-9-3, CULIACAN 4-4-1

Carlos Gastelum scored the go-ahead run on O'Koyea Dickson's seventh-inning sacrifice fly and Hermosillo went on to record a 5-4 win before 15,643 onlookers in Culiacan Sunday night.  The first-round series is tied after six games, meaning both teams will advance to the MexPac semifinals no matter what happens in Monday's Game Seven at Estadio de los Tomateros.  Whoever falls short in tonight's game will still have won three games in the series, qualifying for the fourth semi seed as the first round's "lucky loser" team.

The game was a scoreless tie going into the bottom of the fourth inning, when Culiacan pushed four runs across against Hermosillo starter Barry Enright.  With two out, Issmael Salas stroked a two-run single off Enright followed by a two-run homer by Jose Manuel Orozco.  The Naranjeros fought back with three runs in the top of the fifth, keyed by Gastelum's two-run, bases-loaded single and a Dickson sac fly that brought in Jason Bourgeois from third.  The Tomateros were clinging to their 4-3 lead going into the top of the seventh, when reliever David Goforth gave up a leadoff single to Jorge Flores and induced a Bourgeois pop out to second before walking Gastelum.  Efren Navarro's grounder to short was misplayed by Ramiro Pena, allowing Flores to score the tying run from second while Gastelum went from first to third.  Dickson then lofted his second run-scoring sac fly of the night to center, as Gastelum beat Maxwell Leon's thrown to the plate to give the Naranjeros their first lead of the game.  It was then left to Enright and two relievers to hold the Tomateros scoreless over their final three frames to seal the win.

Enright finished with seven innings to earn his second victory of the series, allowing just four hits and a walk with two strikeouts.  None of the four runs he allowed were earned, due to a fourth-inning fielding error by Flores at shortstop on Jose Manuel Rodriguez leadoff grounder, which should've been the first out (instead, four runs scored with two outs registered).  Nationals farmhand Rafael Martin, who was a midseason All-Star last summer with AAA Syracuse, earned his second postseason save.  Goforth was saddled with both the blown save and the loss for Culiacan.

Mexicali pounds Navojoa, Mazatlan stays alive

The Mexicali Aguilas routed top-seed Navojoa, 14-1, Friday to take a 3-games-to-1 lead in their Mexican Pacific League first round playoff series.  Also Friday, the Mazatlan Venados prevented a Los Mochis sweep with a tight 7-6 win in the Pearl of the Pacific while Hermosillo evened up with Culiacan at two games each by doubling up the Tomateros, 8-4.  Game Five action is slated for Saturday in Mazatlan, Mexicali and Hermosillo before the series shift locales on Sunday as needed.

MEXICALI 14-16-0, Navojoa 1-3-1
Believe it or not, the Mayos led this one early.  After a scoreless first inning, Navojoa went up 1-0 in the top of the second when Christian Zazueta drilled a two-out double to left field off Mexicali starter Miguel Pena, scoring Niko Vazquez from third base. The roof promptly caved in for the visitors as the Aguilas scored five runs in the bottom of the second and three in the third to go up 8-1.  The two teams swapped zeros from the fourth frame until the bottom of the sixth, when the Eagles erupted for four more runs to make it a 12-1 game.  The hosts added a pair of insurance runs in the eighth as 15,577 people watched at  Estadio B'Air in the border city.

Key scoring plays for the Aguilas were Yuniesky Betancourt's three-run double in the second inning, RBI doubles by Ramon Rios and C.J. Retherford in the third, Jon Del Campo's three-run homer in the sixth and Rios' two-run longball in the eighth.  In all, Mexicali collected 16 hits and 6 walks off five Navojoa pitchers, with Mayos starter Fabio Castro (1 IP, 5 R, 5 H, 4 BB) taking the loss after allowing the first Mexicali batters to reach base in the second, including a leadoff homer from Mets farmhand Xorge Carrillo (pictured).  The bottom third of the order did the most damage for the winners as Carrillo, Del Campo and Rios combined for 11 hits (including three homers and two doubles), 9 runs scored and 8 RBIs.

All that offense made life easy for Aguilas starter Pena, who lasted seven innings and gave up just three hits and one run, walking none and whiffing three for the win.  Yair Lozoya and Francisco Rodriguez each turned in 1-2-3 innings in relief against the shellshocked Mayos.


MAZATLAN 7-5-2, Los Mochis 6-9-5

It wasn't pretty, but Mazatlan manager Daniel Fernandez wasn't in the position to be choosy about how his team won.  The defending LMP and Caribbean Series champion Venados parlayed five hits, two walks and five Los Mochis into a 7-6 home win over the Caneros Friday night.  In doing so, the Deer stayed alive by bringing their series deficit to 3 games to 1.  A crowd of just 8.572 was on hand at Estadio Teodoro Mariscal, the lowest attendance of all twelve postseason encounters involving six cities.  It's been a season-long puzzle for Mazatlan, the only MexPac team to draw fewer than 200,000 fans during the regular season (albeit barely below that number).

Mazatlan went up 2-0 on Jesus Fabela's RBI single in the second inning and Drew Maggi scampering home on a double-play grounder in the third entrada.  Los Mochis roared back with three runs in the fourth, taking the lead when Sebastian Valle lumbered in from third on a Jesus Sanchez wild pitch, and racked up three more scores in the fifth (key blow: two-run double from Fernando Inzunza) to take a 6-2 lead.  The Venados got one run back in the bottom of the fifth when Fabela scored on a double-play grounder, ironically topped by Maggi, to cut Mochis' lead to three.  Mazatlan drew even with three runs in the seventh, tying the score when Caneros reliever Jon Sintes uncorked a wild pitch to Cyle Hankerd, allowing Roberto Valenzuela to come in from third.  The Venados won in walkoff fashion when Fabela opened the bottom ninth by beating out an errant throw to first by Mochis shortstop Isaac Rodriguez, moved to second on a Valenzuela sacrifice bunt and scored on Maggi's line drive single to right, ending the contest.

Arturo Barradas went a third of an inning in the ninth as the last Mazatlan pitcher and his one out was enough for him to be the winning pitcher.  Ernesto Zaragos started for the Venados and struck out six in 3.1 innings, but he also let in three runs on four hits and three walks over 76 pitches before skipper Fernandez had finally had enough (conversely, home plate umpire Oswaldo Meza had finally had enough of Fernandez in the eighth and tossed him.  Sintes both blew a save opportunity and took the loss despite 20 of his 29 pitches going for strikes.  The real story for Mochis pitchers was that of seven runs allowed by three pitchers, only two were earned as the trio otherwise combined on a five-hitter.


HERMOSILLO 8-7-2, Culiacan 4-7-2

Outfielder Jason Bourgeois scored three runs on two hits (including a homer) and a walk as the Hermosillo Naranjeros topped the Culiacan Tomateros, 8-4, Friday with a standing-room-only crowd of 16,302 at Hermosillo's Estadio Sonora.  The first-round series is now tied at two games apiece.

The contest was tied ar 2-2 when Bourgeois led off the bottom of the third inning with a single and sped to third on Carlos Gastelum's single to left.  Bourgeois then scored on a sacrifice fly, Gastelum took second when Culiacan reliever Jose Sanchez balked with O'Koyea Dickson batting.  Clearly rattled, Sanchez then walked both Dickson and Dustin Martin to load the bases for Jose Amador.  At this point, Tony Cordova came in for Sanchez and induced Amador to ground into a fielder's choice, with Gastelum coming in from third to make it a 4-2 Hermosillo lead.  The Naranjeros added two more runs during another crazy inning in the fourth (two singles, three walks, two wild pitches) and were never threatened again.  In all, Culiacan pitchers issued nine walks, hit a batter and allowed seven base hits for a total of 17 baserunners.  Amazingly, the Naranjeros were only 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position yet still scored eight times.  Ryan Lollis and Oscar Robles each had two singles for the Tomateros.

The recipient of all the Culiacan mound staff largesse was Naranjeros starter Pablo Ortega, who turned 40 in November.  The ageless righty struck out seven in five innings but it was anything but smooth sailiing.  Ortega let in four runs on five hits and a pair of free passes, but still got the win.  Gerardo Sanchez was tagged with the loss for the Tomateros but it was a group effort by the eight pitchers who saw duty.  Victor Marte did toss 2.2 hitless innings in relief with four strikeouts, but Marte also let fly with a bases-loaded wild pitch that brought Bourgeois in from third.

It was that kind of night.