MONCLOVA, DIABLOS ADVANCE TO DIVISION FINALS

Monclova and Mexico City have both reached their respective Mexican League division finals for the Fall 2018 playoffs by copping first round wins in five games over Dos Laredos and Puebla, respectively.  The two teams clinched their division semifinals Sunday with home wins.  Being a host team has not been a guarantee of success thus far in the playoffs:  Of the 20 games played through Sunday, ten were won by the visiting team.  The most extreme example has come in the Yucatan-Oaxaca series, during which the visiting team won the first four games before the Guerreros topped the defending champion Leones, 5-1, Sunday in Oaxaca's Estadio Eduardo Vasconcelos.


LMB NORTH SEMIS: MONCLOVA 4, DOS LAREDOS 1

Monclova IF Danny Espinosa at bat

The Acereros won the first two games of the series at home before copping two of three games on the road at Estadio Nuevo Laredo to move on to the LMB North Championship Series.  Monclova opened last Monday by winning an 11-10 slugfest thriller in which the Acereros' Francisco Peguero launched a walkoff solo homer in the bottom of the tenth inning off Tecolotes reliever Tyson Perez.  Peguero, who finished seventh in the Liga's regular season batting derby with a .368 average, aided Monclova's cause earlier in the evening with a three-run double in the eighth.  The Acereros followed up last Tuesday by topping the Tecos, 7-4, as two-time MVP Jesse Castillo and former MLB infielder Danny Espinosa each belted two-run homers to pace Monclova's attack in Game Two.

The series shifted to the Mexico-Texas border for the next three games, with the Tecos winning Thursday's Game Three, 7-2, thanks in no small part to Josh Rodriguez' three-run homer in the second inning.  Former Phillies outfielder Domonic Brown (who cracked 27 homers for Philadelphia in 2013) aided the Dos Laredos cause by going 3-for-5 with two doubles, two runs scored and another counter driven in.  Monclova came back Friday after trailing 4-2 through the fourth inning to score six unanswered runs in an 8-4 Game Five victory.  Castillo pounded a three-run longball in the fifth to put the Acereros ahead while Chad Gotta and Espinosa both added homers in the sixth and seventh frames respectively.  After Game Five in Nuevo Laredo was rained out Saturday, the Acereros closed out the series with a 3-1 triumph.  Ace Josh Lowey, who finished 6-3 in the regular season, held the Tecos to one run on four hits over 7.2 innings to earn the win as Espinosa capped a solid first round performance by going 2-for-3 with a double, run and RBI while Juan Perez socked a two-run homer.

The Acereros will next play the winner of the Tijuana-Monterrey series in the North finals, beginning later this week.


LMB NORTH SEMIS: MONTERREY 3, TIJUANA 2

Monterrey IFs Agustin Murillo and Ramiro Pena

The teams split the first two games of the set in Tijuana, with the visiting Sultanes using four solo homers to beat the Toros, 7-4, last Monday.  Ex-Yankee infielder Ramiro Pena, a Monterrey native in his first LMB season, was joined by veterans Chris Roberson, Agustin Murillo and Jose Amador in going deep in the Sultanes' Game One win.  The Toros bounced back Tuesday with a 6-3 Game Two win behind Fernando Perez' three-run home run.  Shortstop Jose Guadalupe Chavez chipped in with a pair of hits, a run and an RBI  as TJ evened the series at a game apiece.

The two teams moved to Monterrey for the next three games.  Game Three on Thursday at Estadio Monterrey saw the Toros take the lead in the series with a second straight 6-3 triumph.  Longtime Cuban National Team star Frederich Cepeda and former MLB infielder Jorge Cantu each socked two run homers for the winners and Chavez added three hits.  The Sultanes knotted the series up at 2-2 by taking a 4-3 Game Four win Friday.  This one came down to the bottom of the ninth, when Murillo followed a Pena triple with a two-run walkoff homer off Toros closer Daniel Moskos to send 13,423 Monterrey fans home happy.  Sultanes starter Dallas Marinez, a Yankees minor leaguer who pitched in the All-Star Game between seasons while on loan to Leon before the cash-strapped Bravos shipped him north, had a strong outing by hurling 5.2 shutout innings and allowing just two hits.  The Sultanes took Saturday's Game Five by a 10-4 count in a contest that was closer than the final score indicated until the hosts put eight runs on the scoreboard in the seventh inning, keyed by a Roberson three-run homer.  Amador contributed three hits and two RBIs to the Monterrey attack.

After Sunday's travel day, Game Six is scheduled for Monday night in Tijuana.  Should the Toros win, the deciding contest is slated for Tuesday night.


LMB SOUTH SEMIS: MEXICO CITY 4, PUEBLA 1

Mexico City P Luis Mendoza

The Mexico City Diablos Rojos won the final two of three games in Puebla to finish their series with the Pericos and move on to the South Division Championship Series.  The first two contests were played at Estadio Fray Nano in the nation's capital, with the Diablos winning both, starting with last Tuesday's 8-4 Game One victory.  Newcomer Michael Choice, a former Rangers outfielder who joined Mexico City as a free agent on August 16, had a great night with a two-run homer, a pair of doubles and five RBIs for the winners.  Game Two also went the Diablos' way, 12-4, with Mexico City posting a nine-run seventh inning.  The Red Devils sent 15 men to the plate during that outburst, with speedster Carlos Figueroa singling, doubling, scoring twice and driving in two runs during the frame.

The series shifted to Puebla for the next three games, with the Pericos picking up their only win in Game Three, 7-6, last Friday.  Puebla benefitted from a Bernardo Heras solo homer during a three-run sixth inning during which the Parrots overcame a 6-4 deficit.  That would be the Pericos' last gasp of 2018 as the Diablos came back to win the next two contests at Estadio Hermanos Serdan.  Game Four began on Saturday before rain pushed its conclusion to Sunday, ending with a 7-3 Mexico City conquest.  Outfielder Yeison Asencio, who hit .386 in the regular season, contributed a single and double, scoring one run and adding two ribbies to negate Delmon Young of Puebla, who went 4-for-4 with an RBI.  Former MLB and NPB pitcher Luis Mendoza (who was MVP for the Pacific Coast League in 2011 and the Caribbean Series in 2013) got the win after allowing a single run in 6.2 innings while scattering seven hits while Diablos first baseman Luis Jimenez collected three of Mexico City's five hits, including a three-run homer off Puebla starter Josh Outman in the third.

The Diablos will await the winner of the Yucatan-Oaxaca series to learn who they'll be playing in the LMB South Championship Series later this week.


LMB SOUTH SEMIS: OAXACA 3, YUCATAN 2

Oaxaca P Alex Delgado

Of the four first round playoff series in the Mexican League's second season, this one has been the most surprising.  The Oaxaca Guerreros have won one LMB pennant (in 1998, two years after their inaugural season) and are rarely a factor in the rare times they advance to the postseason.  Thus expectations were low after the Warriors beat a reeling Leon team in a one-game wild card contest after a 26-30 regular season to qualify for a first-round series with defending LMB champion Yucatan.  Instead, new manager Sergio Gastelum has taken the Guerreros to within a game of meeting Mexico City in the division finals. 

Oaxaca won the first two games of the series in Merida, starting last Monday with a 4-1 Game One triumph behind the solid work of Guerreros starter Alex Delgado.  A Mexicali native in his seventh Liga season at the tender age of 23, Delgado limited the Leones to one run in three hits in seven innings of work, striking out nine and walking none.  Older brother Irwin Delgado followed Alex to the mound one night later in Oaxaca's 6-3 Game Two win at Parque Kukulcan, tossing six frames of one-run ball with seven whiffs before serving up a leadoff homer to Eric Aguilera in the bottom of the seventh.  Ex-Seattle shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt, who was second in the LMB with a .406 batting average during the regular season, had a pair of singles for the Guerreros and drove in two runs.

The series then shifted to Oaxaca, where Yucatan won twice to give the road team victories for the first four games of the set.  After a Thursday rainout, the Leones took Game Three, 3-1, Friday as starter Cesar Valdez went seven innings and scattered six hits in a one-run outing.  Yucatan catcher Sebastian Valle, a big-game player, contributed a run-scoring double while shortstop Walter Ibarra added an RBI single.  The Leones evened the series at two games each on Saturday by doubling up the Guerreros, 10-5, in Game Four.  Oaxaca was leading 5-4 after six innings before Yucatan scored two runs in the seventh, eighth and ninth frames to pull away.  Ibarra and Leo Heras powered homers for the Leones and Humberto Sosa had three hits with as many RBIs as a combined 17 pitchers took the hill in the marathon contest, which took 4 hours, 21 minutes to complete nine innings.  The Guerreros took their last home game of the series Sunday with a 5-1 Game Five victory.  Once again, Alex Delgado was sterling on the mound for the winners by allowing one run on three hits in six innings, striking out eight.  Henry Urrutia knocked out a two-run homer in the first inning as the Guerreros were up 5-0 after two entradas and coasted to the win.

The series moves back to Yucatan for Game Six Tuesday night at Parque Kukulcan, where Game Seven (if needed) would be played to determine who'll face Mexico City for the LMB South title.

Mexicali opens 4-game lead; Lively win streak ends at 8

The defending champion Mexicali Aguilas have continued to respond to new manager Pedro Mere and have built a four-game lead over Mazatlan and Navojoa in the Mexican Pacific League’s second-half standings.  The Eagles won two of three hard-fought games in a weekend series in Mazatlan to lift their record to 18-6 with nine games left in the regular season. The Venados dropped to 14-10 after losing Sunday’s game, 4-2, falling into a second-place tie with the Mayos.  Righty Mitch Lively took the loss for the Deer to fall to 9-2 on the season after winning his last eight starts.  Meanwhile, Navojoa won in Culiacan, 2-0, as Eddie Gamboa and four relievers combined on the shutout.

A 6’5” Californian, the 32-year-old Lively has enjoyed a banner 2017 south of the border.  He pitched well for a poor Leon team in the Mexican League, going 7-2 with a 2.41 ERA for the Bravos over 74 innings, including 12 starts, to give him a combined 16-4 mark between the two leagues.  The Venados ace leads the MexPac in wins, strikeouts and WHIP and is threatening to become the LMP’s first 10-game winner since Culiacan’s Jorge Campillo in 2004-05.  Campillo went on to pitch in the majors for Seattle and Atlanta and is currently a VP with the LMB Tijuana Toros after serving as the team’s GM for several seasons.

The Hermosillo Naranjeros’ second-half slide following their first-half title has continued, with the Orangemen next-to-last with a 9-14 record, three games ahead of hapless Los Mochis.  Hermosillo’s front office and fans are used to success and rumors have surfaced that manager Lorenzo Bundy’s seat may be getting warm.  The Naranjeros recently became beneficiaries of Obregon’s sell-off by acquiring former MLB and NPB pitcher Luis Mendoza from the Yaquis for three prospects.  One of them, Hermosillo native Isaac Paredes, was a well-regarded Cubs farmhand before being dealt to the Tigers organization last summer.  The infielder spent the entire season playing in the Class A Midwest League, pretty fast company for an 18-year-old who hit .252 with 11 homers and 70 RBIs in 124 games for South Bend and West Michigan.

What’s been a long season in Obregon got a little longer when new fan favorite outfielder Tomo Otosaka returned to Japan after playing the last of his 27 games for the Yaquis on December 14.  Otosaka won over supporters with a .410 batting average with 15 runs scored and another 12 driven in while walking 13 times in 113 plate appearances for an on-base percentage of .487.  The 23-year-old Otosaka has hit .237 with 7 homers and 22 RBIs in 196 games for the Yokohama BayStars of Japan’s Central League since his 2014 debut.  Attendance has plummeted at year-old Nuevo Estadio Yaquis this winter as fans appear to be losing confidence in the Yaquis organization under owner Rene Rodriguez, who bought the team from the Grupo Modelo brewery following the team’s trio of LMP titles earlier this decade.

LMP SECOND HALF STANDINGS

Mexicali (4.0) 18-6, Mazatlan (6.0) 14-10, Navojoa (4.5) 14-10, Culiacan (7.0) 13-11, Obregon (3.0) 11-13, Jalisco (5.0) 10-13, Hermosillo (8.0) 9-14, Los Mochis (3.5) 6-18

First half point totals per team are in parentheses

LMP BATTING LEADERS

AVG-Sebastian Elizalde (CUL) .372, H-Sebastian Elizalde (CUL) 83,  R-Randy Arozarena (NAV) 44, HR-Randy Arozarena (NAV) 14, RBI-Manny Rodriguez (JAL) 50, SB-Jeremias Pineda (MAZ) 29.

LMP PITCHING LEADERS

W-Mitch Lively (MAZ) 9, ERA-Rolando Valdez (MXI) 1.75, SO-Mitch Lively (MAZ) 63, SV-Manny Acosta (OBR) 15, HLD-Edgar Gomez (MXI) 16, WHIP-Mitch Lively (MAZ) 0.96.

El Titan traded to Atlanta, designated for assignment

Five-time All-Star first baseman Adrian Gonzalez could be forgiven if he’s beyond ready to turn the calendar to 2018 a couple weeks early as his nightmarish 2017 has taken yet another couple of dagger-like twists.  The man known as “El Titan” and considered by many to be the best MLBer of Mexican descent was one of four Los Angeles Dodgers players sent to Atlanta last weekend in a trade for outfielder Matt Kemp.  Also dealt to the Braves were veteran pitchers Scott Kazmir and Brandon McCarthy and young infielder Charlie Culberson in a transaction regarded by some as a salary dump for both teams.  Gonzalez is scheduled to make $22.4 million for the last year of his contract in 2018, of which the Dodgers picked up $4.5 million of the tab as part of the swap.

However, if the 35-year-old Gonzalez had even begun thinking of hitting in the high-altitude, homer-happy environment of Atlanta’s new ballpark (a 13-year-old Little Leaguer homered off the left field upper-deck facade in August), such thoughts were dashed as the Braves designated him for assignment almost as soon as the trade was announced, in effect putting the 14-year-veteran back on the trading block.

Gonzalez has collected 2,010 career hits, including 311 homers and 1,176 RBIs, with a slash line of .288/.359/.488 over 1,875 MLB games since he debuted with the Texas Rangers in 2004.  Along with his five All-Star picks, the San Diego native (who spent many years growing up in Tijuana along with brother Edgar, now in the Jalisco Charros front office) has won four Gold Gloves and two Silver Slugger awards while being named Player of the Month once in each league and picking up eight Player of the Week designations.

There had been speculation in some quarters that Gonzalez might join his brother in Guadalajara and play for the Charros this winter, but that appears unlikely.

Tijuana’s Blanca Uribe first woman LMB Executive of the Year

The Mexican League Assembly of Presidents enjoyed a relatively quiet week at the annual Baseball Winter Meetings earlier this month in Orlando, and even made a little history in the process when Tijuana Toros’ deputy vice president Blanca Uribe became the first woman to receive Executive of the Year honors in the LMB’s 92-year history.  Uribe is the daughter of Toros owner Alberto Uribe and sister of team president Alejandro Uribe, and was recently promoted from a vice president’s position she’d held since 2014.

While her father and brother are more involved in the baseball end of the Toros, Blanca has served a more “heart-and-soul” role with the team, organizing several events and creating tie-ins involving charitable organizations along with other outreach efforts.  The Toros have become one of the Mexican League’s model franchises in just four years.  They won their first LMB pennant in September and their Academy Rookie League affiliate won that loop’s title.  The Toros’ Mexican Winter League club in Moroleon (shared with Leon) qualified for the LIM playoffs, but was swept by Oaxaca in the first round.  Mexico City then beat Oaxaca to win their third straight LIM flag.

Also at the Winter Meetings, the LMB confirmed their two 2018 short-season schedules.  The first season will run between March 22 and May 28 with three-tiered playoffs to follow in June.  After a June 29 All-Star Game scheduled for the perpetually-delayed Estadio Alfredo Harp Helu in Mexico City, the second season will open July 3 and end September 8 with another month-long playoff ending with an October 8 Championship Series Game Seven (if needed).  Each regular season will consist of 57 games, although the schedules will not be evenly balanced in games between divisions.

For the second Assembly of Presidents meeting in a row, LMB president Javier Salinas confiscated all cell phones from participants to prevent leaks to the media.  The move worked, as no mention was made of either the Rookiegate imbroglio between the Mexico City Diablos Rojos and the Quintana Roo Tigres or the volatile ongoing ownership situation involving the Durango Generales.  Durango has been included as one of the 16 teams playing in 2018 but the question of whether embattled Generales owner Virgilio Ruiz can hang on to the team remains a mystery.

3,000 attend Liga Olmeca opening ceremony in CDMX

Mexico’s largest Little League organization held opening ceremonies for the 2017-18 season earlier this month at the Liga Olmeca complex in Mexico City.  An estimated 3,000 people were on hand as New York Yankees pitchers Luis Cessa and Giovanny Gallegos joined Lee Sigman (the Yanks’ Mexican scouting director) to help first-year Liga Olmeca president Carlos Fragoso welcome players and parents to another season of amateur baseball in the capital city.

Fragoso, an Obregon native who grew up with David Gonzalez (father of Edgar and Adrian) and works as an engineer for Siemens, himself has been a scout for both the Yankees and Boston Red Sox as well as a coach at the national level in Mexico.  According to Fragoso, there are about 900 youth baseball and softball players in Liga Olmeca while another 500-plus adults play softball at night for a total of nearly 1,500 ballplayers.

Mexico in wild 11-9 win vs. Venezuela, still eliminated from WBC

Diminutive Esteban Quiroz swatted a three-run homer to key a five-run second inning, a blast that got bigger as the night went on with Mexico holding on to top Venezuela, 11-9, Sunday in a marathon at Guadalajara's Estadio Charros.  The win was Mexico's first in three games at the World Baseball Classic Pool D competition, and created a three-way tie for second with Venezuela and Italy at 1-2 apiece, behind Puerto Rico's perfect 3-0 mark.  Mexico and Italy were first cited by a number of websites (including the WBC's) to be the teams advancing to a tiebreaker game Monday night, but a set of rules based on runs allowed gave Venezuela a slight nod over Mexico in that regard, thus creating an Italy-Venezuela tiebreaker instead.

After a scoreless first inning, Mexico opened the second with a five-run outburst off Venezuelan starter Yusmeiro Petit that gave his Verdes Grande counterpart, Luis Mendoza, a nice cushion.  A Japhet Amador double scored Brandon Laird from second base and sent Alex Verdugo from first to third. After Efren Navarro walked, Cochito Cruz' sacrifice fly brought in Verdugo and Xorge Carrillo's flyout to right sent Amador to third, the 5'7" Quiroz (pictured) worked Petit into a full count before swinging his red bat to send the ball rocketing over the right field wall past the scoreboard to bring the score to 5-0.

Venezuela was able to get one run back in the bottom of the third as Robinson Chirinos scored from second on Martin Prado's line single up the middle off Mendoza.  Neither team scored in the fourth but Brandon Laird detonated a three-run homer beyond the videoscreen in left center field off reliever Wil Ledezma in the top of the fifth to put Mexico up by an 8-1 count.  Carlos Torres replaced Mendoza on the mound in the bottom of the frame after the latter allowed an Alcides Escobar double and was touched for three runs.  Ender Inciarte doubled home Escobar, Martin Prado's ground-rule double drove Inciarte in and Miguel Cabrera singled in Prado to close the gap to 8-4.

An Adrian Gonzalez sacrifice fly brought Carrillo with Mexico's ninth run in the top of the sixth to make it 9-4, but Puerto Rico came back with a pair of runs on consecutive two-out singles by Chirinos and Altuve.  Chris Roberson, who entered the game as a pinch-runner for Quiroz in the sixth and remained defensively in center field, stroked a two-run single in the top of the seventh to bring Mexico's lead back to five at 11-6.  Sergio Romo came on in relief in the bottom of the seventh and lasted long enough to record an out among three runs, four hits (including a two-run Victor Martinez homer) and a walk before being pulled for Jake Sanchez, who got the final two outs without further damage, but the host team's advantage had been whittled to 11-9.

Robert Suarez and Jose Alvarez held the Mexicans scoreless in the eighth and Sanchez came back out for the bottom of the entrada long enough to walk Cabrera on five pitches (with some batters, one can never be too careful), then was replaced on the hill by Oliver Perez.  Perez got Carlos Gonzalez to ground to Adrian Gonzalez at first for an unassisted double play, then went seven pitches into the count with Martinez, who lined out to Navarro in left field for the final out.

Alvarez then battled to hold Mexico scoreless for a second straight inning in the ninth and after Perez coaxed Rougned Odor to dribble a comebacker to the mound for the first out, Roberto Osuna, who suffered a collapse of epic proportions against Italy Thursday, was sent out by manager Edgar Gonzalez with the game on the line once more.  Osuna's first pitch was drilled for a single to left by Escobar and Inciarte walked
on a full count to put the tying run on base.  The normally placid Gonzalez sprang from the dugout to argue the fourth ball with home plate umpire Quinn Wolcott, earning an early shower.  Osuna went on to srike out Chirinos swinging on four pitches and getting Altuve to sky a 1-2 delivery to Alex Verdugo in right for the game's final out.

Mendoza earned the win for Mexico and Osuna got the save while Petit absorbed the loss for Venezuela.  Amador went 3-for-5 for the winners while Laird scored twice and drove in three runs, but it was the bat of leadoff hitter Quiroz that set the early pace before he was replaced on the basepaths by Roberson.  Quiroz went 2-for-3 with two runs and three ribbies in the slugfest, keeping his WBC batting average at .667 with two homers and five RBIs in three games, two at second base and Sunday in right field.  The two teams required four hours and 45 minutes to play nine innings, between the combined 20 runs, 30 hits, 11 walks and 13 pitching changes.  The game ended shortly before 2:00AM local time.

Puerto Rico began Sunday's Pool D play by tripling up on Italy, 9-3, to finish the first round with a 3-0 record.  Italy ended the round robin 1-2.  Carlos Correa and Enrique Hernandez each had three of Puerto Rico's 13 hits.  Correa, Francisco and Mike Aviles both scored twice, Correa's three RBIs were augmented by Hernandez' two.

John Andreoli's two-run homer in the first inning and Drew Butera's solo shot in the second accounted for all of Italy's scoring, as Alessandro Vaglio's pinch single was the only other hit off Jose Berrios and two Puerto Rican relievers.  Berrios earned the win, pitching five innings and allowing three runs on two hits, while Luis Lugo took the loss for Italy after being scuffed up for four runs in 2.1 innings.  A crowd of 11,924 spectators, the smallest in four days at Estadio Charros, was on hand to watch.

Juarez homers, but Mexico drops 7-3 exhibition to Padres

The Mexican National Team played the first of two exhibition games against Major League Baseball teams Tuesday, losing 7-3 to San Diego in front of 2,371 fans in Peoria, Arizona.  Luis Juarez homered and doubled while Japhet Amador and Luis Urias each had two singles for Mexico, but the Padres built a 5-0 lead after four innings and were never seriously threatened.

San Diego took an early 2-0 lead when Wil Myers doubled off Luis Mendoza to bring in Erick Aybar for one run and Hunter Renfroe's sacrifice fly sent Cory Spangenberg in from third for another.  The Padres added two more scores in the bottom of the third on Carlos Asuaje's RBI sac fly and a Jabari Blash double that drove in Myers, and Spangenberg's run-scoring two-bagger one frame later gave San Diego a five-run advantage.

 Juarez put the Verdes Grande on the board in the top of the sixth by sending a Craig Stamman slider over the left field fence, but it was too little too late.  The Padres padded their lead with two more runs when Hector Sanchez homered off Giovanny Gallegos in the sixth and Franchy Cordero double Jose Pirela in in the eighth frame.  Brandon Laird launched a two-run homer in the top of the ninth (scoring Juarez) off Kyle McGrath to narrow San Diego's lead to 7-3.  Mexico was then able to load the bases against McGrath, who was pulled for Christian Bethancourt with two out and Chris Roberson stepping up to the plate to represent the tying run. Bethancourt ended the game and earned the save by inducing Roberson to pop a 1-0 pitch to first baseman Dusty Coleman for the final out.

Walker Lockett started for the Padres and pitched two scoreless innings for the win while Mendoza took the loss after giving up four runs on five hits in two-plus innings.  Mexico will play the Arizona Diamondbacks Wednesday in Scottsdale before opening the 2017 World Baseball Classic Thursday in Guadalajara against Italy.

YAQUIS BLANK GUASAVE, 3-0; ONE WIN AWAY FROM FLAG

Luis Mendoza threw seven shutout innings while Barbaro Canizares had three hits (including a ninth-inning two-run homer) to lead Obregon to a 3-0 win in Guasave Wednesday night in the Mexican Pacific League championship series. With the victory, the Yaquis now lead the finals, 3 games to 2.

Mendoza (pictured) and Guasave starter Francisco Cordoba swapped zeros on the scoreboard into the top of the seventh, when Cordoba plunked Victor Diaz with two out. At that point, Algodoneros manager Matias Carrillo replaced Cordoba with Adrian Ramirez, who allowed back-to-back singles by Canizarez and pinch-hitter Daniel Fornes to score Diaz, putting the Yaquis up 1-0. Nick Bierbrodt came in to retire leadoff hitter Everth Cabrera to end the inning.

In the ninth, Diaz led off with a single up the middle off Alan Guerrero. At that point, Carrillo took out Guerrero and brought in Antonio Garzon, who promptly dished up Canizares’ longball to straightaway center, effectively putting the game on ice for the Yaquis. Luis Ayala retired the side in the bottom of the frame to pick up his eighth playoff save. Ayala has yet to allow an earned run in the postseason.

The two teams will now move back to Obregon, where the Yaquis won the first two games of a series in which no road team has come away with a win. Game Six is set for Friday night while Game Seven (if needed) will take place Saturday at Estadio Tomas Oroz Gaytan.