MAYOS HOLD OFF GUASAVE FOR LMP FIRST HALF TITLE

    The Navojoa Mayos entered last week's final Mexican Pacific League series of the first half with a slim lead over Guasave. The schedule favored the Algodoneros, who hosted last-place Los Mochis while Navojoa was visiting a tough Obregon squad.

    However, the Mayos clinched first place last Tuesday with a 3-2 win over the Yaquis behind homers by Kyle Martin and Alan Espinoza while Guasave dropped their opener with the Caneros by an identical 3-2 score as Los Mochis overcame a 2-1 deficit in the top of the ninth when Juan Camacho lofted a bases-loaded sacrifice fly to plate the tying run and Francisco Cordoba's single pushed the go-ahead run.

    The Mayos lost their last two games in Obregon, 5-4 (Michael Wing hit a bases-clearing triple in the 7th) and 10-4 (Wing had a two-run double and Juan Carlos Gamboa contributed a two-run single for the Yaquis), while Guasave won their last two contests, 14-5 (Jhoan Urena and Yadir Drake combined for seven singles and six RBIs) and 11-4 (Angel Erro went 4-for-4 for the Algonoderos with four RBIs), but Navojoa was able to cling to the top of the standings with a 20-12 record, one game ahead of the 19-13 Cottoneers.

    As a result, manager Matias Carrillo's Mayos pocketed 10.0 points going into the second half last Friday while Guasave was awarded 9.0 points for their runner-up finish. Jalisco and Obregon tied for third place with 18-14 records, but the Charros were awarded 8.0 points due to their winning record for the half against the Yaquis, who earned 7.0 points. Defending champion Culiacan was right behind at 17-15, good for 6.0 points, while Hermosillo finished at an even 16-16 for sixth place and 5.5 points. Rounding out the standings were 15-17 Monterrey (5.0 points), 14-18 Mazatlan (4.5), 14-18 Mexicali (4.0), and 9-23 Los Mochis (3.5). The Venados got the nod in points over Mexicali due to their superior record against the Aguilas in the half.

    Somewhat surprisingly, no managers were fired during the first half of the schedule (skippers have been canned less than two weeks into the season in past years), but a couple teams have made amends for their tardiness. Robinson Cancel was sacked as manager in Los Mochis on the heels of the aforementioned pair of drubbings in Guasave to close out the first half schedule. 

    Cancel went 9-23 with the Caneros after replacing Victor Bojorquez, who led the team to two last-place finishes in 2020-21. Luis Carlos Rivera has been named as Los Mochis' new pilot. Rivera has managed Mexican League teams in Leon, Yucatan and Aguascalientes (who he led to a playoff berth last summer), but this will be his first time as a dugout boss in the Mex Pac.

    Meanwhile in Mexicali, where patience has never been a virtue, Bronswell Patrick was fired after the Aguilas' 14-18 first-half showing. Patrick took the reins of the Eagles last winter on an interim basis after serving the team as pitching coach and posted a 30-20 record the rest of the way, earning a playoff berth and coming in second in voting for Manager of the Year honors. He was hired permanently in late January, "permanent" in this case being less than ten months and 32 games. 

    Gil Velazquez, who was sefired as manager of the Aguilas during the 2016-17 LMP season, is being brought back to run the team, at least for now. Pedro Mere is returning for his third tour of duty in Mexicali, this time as Velazquez' bench coach. Mere managed the Aguilas on two previous occasions. Mexicali has now fired their manager in the middle of the season six years in a row.

    Tirso Ornelas of Navojoa leads the batting race with a .388 average, a comfortable 19 points ahead of Jalisco's Christian Villanueva (.369), while Miguel Guzman of Guasave is third at .358. Kyle Martin's homer for Navojoa against Obregon last Tuesday gave him nine for the season in 21 games, three more than six different batsmen. One of those, Jesse Castillo of Guasave, leads Jalisco's Felix Perez (who also has six roundtrippers) in the RBI derby, 30 to 29, while Maikel Serrano of Navojoa and Hermosillo's Luis Alfonso Cruz are tied for third at 27 ribbies apiece. Dairon Blanco of Culiacan is running away in the stolen bases category with 18 swipes in 22 attempts, well ahead of Obregon's Alfonso Harris (13) and Sebastian Elizalde of Culiacan (12).

    Navojoa's Carlos De Leon lost his first game of the season last week, but his five wins still are most in the Mex Pac, with four pitchers on his heels at four victories each. Orlando Lara (4-0) of Jalisco is tops with a 1.13 ERA, ahead of Hermosillo's Elian Leyva (4-0) at 1.29 and Tiago da Silva (3-1) of Obregon's 1.39 mark. Obregon's Luis Escobar leads with 38 strikeouts, followed by Javier Solano of Jalisco (33) and Escobar's Yaquis teammate, former Red Sox hurler Hector Velazquez (32). Jake Sanchez of Mexicali heads the saves table with 11 while Navojoa's Carlos Bustamante has eight and Roberto Osuna of Jalisco is at six.

MEX PAX ROAD TRIP (Stop #7): Guasave, Sinaloa

    The seventh visit on our 24-city Mexican Pacific League Road Trip is Guasave, Sinaloa (also known as “The Agricultural Heart of Mexico”), which can easily be reached by traveling on Highway 15 for 45 minutes to cover the 36 miles from our last stop, Los Mochis.

    A municipality of about 320,000 residents, Guasave has an agriculture-based economy, like the majority of Mex Pac venues. The major crops in the area are corn, wheat, sorghum, soy, beans and cotton. The land around Guasave is generally rocky and the climate is usually very dry and warm, with an average of about 15 inches of rain a year and an annual temperature of 80 degrees.

    While Guasave is only 22 miles east from the Gulf of California, the major source of the city’s water is the Sinaloa River, which starts in the southwest corner of the state of Chihuahua and flows into the gulf. The river includes Navachiste Bay, which is known for aquatic sports and fishing; and San Ignacio Bay, noted for its clean landscape, calm waters and abundance of flora and fauna. Further towards the gulf from Guasave are The Glorias, a very popular stretch of the river known for its beaches and terrific seafood like shrimp meatballs. Along the river, there are many poplars and willows lining the shores.

    Among the more interesting spots for travelers to visit are the 17th century ruins of Guasave’s Old Town, the Nio ruins (which date back to 1767), and Tamazula, a colonial site featuring a museum and church first built in 1820. Guasave is well known for the raising of thoroughbred horses. Guasave is (again like most LMP cities) not a tourist destination, but it is a slice of authentic northern Mexico with its own enjoyments, and the lifestyle there is considered very traditional.

    Guasave is represented in the Mexican Pacific League by the Algodoneros (or “Cotton Growers”). The team originally entered the MexPac baseball in 1970 and won the LMP pennant in only their second season under manager Vinicio Garcia (going 1-5 in the Caribbean Series that winter) but won no further titles, although they reached three subsequent championship series. The Cottoneers were bought and moved in 2014 to Guadalajara, where they were renamed the Jalisco Charros. A second edition of the Algodoners debuted in 2019-20. No uniform numbers have been retired in Guasave.

    The Algodoneros play their home games at Estadio Francisco Carranza Limon, which is owned by the Sinaloa state government and now seats 10,000 spectators after extensive remodeling was performed prior to their 2019 return, mostly paid for by Mexico City Diablos Rojos owner Alfredo Harp Helu as well as the federal CONADE sports agency.

MAESTROS OF MEXICO: Andres Mora, OF-1B-DH

    Most North American baseball fans only remember him as a sporadic power hitter who shuttled between Baltimore and Rochester for three years in the late Seventies, but Andres Mora is revered south of the border as one of the all-time great sluggers in Mexican League history on par with Hector Espino and Nelson Barrera. When he retired after the 1997 season, only Espino’s 453 homers topped Mora’s 419 dingers among LMB batters before Barrera passed them both in the early part of this century.

    Andres Mora Ibarra was born May 25, 1955 in Rio Bravo, Coahuila. He broke into pro ball at the tender age of 16 in 1971, splitting his season in Class A ball with Zacatecas and Puerto Penasco. He only played a total of 10 games the next two seasons before settling in with Saltillo in 1974, hitting .311 with 14 homers. 

    Mora hit stride the following year when the 20-year-old led the Liga with 35 homers and 109 RBIs while batting .307 for the Saraperos before being signed by the Orioles, beginning a frustrating three-year period. He spent most of his time playing for Earl Weaver’s O’s, hitting 27 homers and driving in 83 runs in 226 games but only batting in the mid-.220’s and never getting a shot to play consistently.

    Mora found himself back in Saltillo in 1979, and hit .344 with 23 homers and 102 RBIs. With the exception of a nine-game stay with Cleveland in 1980, he played the rest of his career in Mexico, mostly with the Dos Laredos Tecolotes. From 1981 to 1993, Mora topped 20 homers ten times, including a career high 41 in 1985. He drove in 443 runs and belted 142 dingers while hitting nearly .370 in a four-year period between 1984 and 1987 as the linchpin for a Dos Laredos offense that was one of the most-feared of the era.

    Ironically, the year the Tecolotes broke through for a pennant in 1989, Mora was playing in Monterrey for the Industriales. He returned to the binational team in 1990 and spent the rest of his career splitting home games between Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas and Laredo, Texas. Mora retired from baseball in 1997, ending his 27-year pro career at the age of 42.

    Besides his 419 career Mexican League homers (he hit a total of 471 as a pro), Mora drove in 1,498 runs on 2,259 hits while batting .314. He had 12 Liga seasons at .300 or better, led the loop four times in homers and was RBI champ three times. He is a member of the Salon de la Fama and remembered as a man who could change a game with one swing of the bat.

CANIZALES TOUTS MONTERREY AS POTENTIAL CS SITE

    Although the next edition of the Caribbean Series is slated to take place next February in the relatively stable Dominican Republic, Septima Entrada writer Tomas Lopez says Mexican Pacific League president Omar Canizales is touting a Mexican city that has never hosted the event as a possible future site: Monterrey, Nuevo Leon.

    "It shouldn't be long before Monterrey can have a Serie del Caribe,” Canizales is quoted as saying. “Indeed, there's an agreement between the owners of the teams where there's a rotation to host this tournament.” Canizales added that Monterrey could be an ideal fill-in in case another scheduled country declines to host the event for some reason because the hometown Sultanes are co-owned by the Multimedios media company that can effectively get the word out on short notice. The Sultanes' 21,906-seat Estadio Monterrey is the largest ballpark in Mexico and third-largest in Latin America.

    Canizales alluded to past Caribbean Series that have had to move weeks before the tournament to alternate sites like Panama City and Guadalajara because of politicial and economic miseries occurring in Venezuela, the planned host site. “Let's remember that eventually eventually, our Caribbean brothers in some countries may have some instability and I think Monterrey can be a good 'pinch-hitter' for this event...I believe Monterrey and Multimedios can be tremendous hosts.”

    Mexico is one of four nations included in the CS rotation along with Venezuela, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. Venezuela is scheduled to host the Serie del Caribe in 2023 while Mexico, which held the event in Mazatlan last winter, is not slated to come up in the rotation until 2025. Mexicali is seen as the front-runner to serve as host that year.

    Meanwhile, on the playing field, only two games separate the top five teams in the Mex Pac standings after last weekend's games. When the dust settled Sunday night, Navojoa had sole possession of first place with a 15-8 record after the Mayos slipped past Obregon, 3-2, in ten innings. Maikel Serrano's bases-loaded walkoff single to left off reliever Alberto Leyva plated Jorge Sesma with the winning run as Obregon fell to a three-way tie for third with Jalisco and defending champion Culiacan.

    Guasave kept pace with Navojoa and remains a half-game out of first after clobbering Mexicali, 11-2, Sunday at Estadio Aguilas. Yadir Drake crushed a three-run homer for the Algodoneros while Jhoan Urena went 3-for-4 with a homer and two RBIs to support starter Jordan Kipper's five shutout inings.

    Jalisco dropped a 5-4 decision Sunday to Los Mochis at home to remain in third a 13-10. Caneros' leadoff hitter Justin Dean and second batter Issac Rodriguez combined for five hits, three RBIs and two runs scored for the winners. Likewise, Culiacan remain tied for third Sunday after losing to Mazatlan, 3-2, at home. The Venados' Ramon Rios stroked a leadoff single, moved to second on a bunt, took third on a Derrick Loop wild pitch and scored the winning run on a Ricky Alvarez sacrifice fly in the top of the ninth.

    Navojoa outfielder Tirso Ornelas is the LMP's only .400 hitter and leads the loop with a .417 average, ahead of Jalisco's Christian Villanueva (.394) and Nick Torres of Hermosillo (.370). Torres' six homers are tops, followed by the five apiece from Monterrey's Danny Ortiz and Kyle Martin of Navojoa (who's hit his longballs over just ten games). Guasave's Jesse Castillo leads Maikel Serrano of Navojoa in the RBI race, 21 to 20. Culiacan's Dairon Blanco heads the list in stolen bases with eight, one more than three other baserunners: Jose Cardona (Hermosillo), Sebastian Elizalde (Culiacan) and Roel Santos (Navojoa).

    On the mound, 2018-19 LMP Pitcher of the Year Elian Leyva is making the decision of the Jalisco Charros to release him last winter appear ill-considered. Now pitching for Hermosillo, the Cuban-born righty gave up one single over seven innings in Monterrey Saturday to run his string of shutout entradas at the start of the season to 32. Needless to say, Leyva's 0.00 ERA is best in the Mex Pac (Jalisco's Orlando Lara has allowed one earned run over 27 frames), his 4-0 record matches Navojoa's Carlos de Leon for most wins and his 0.63 WHIP is also first in the LMP. Leyva's 25 strikeouts are third on that list behind two Obregon hurlers, Luis Escobar (30) and Hector Velazquez (27). Jake Sanchez' strong work for Mexicali continues, with the Californian's seven saves leading Navojoa's Carlos Bustamante's five while striking out 17 batters in just ten innings to augment his 0.90 ERA.

    Looking forward, a pair of midweek series loom large when Jalisco visits Obregon and Navojoa opens a three-game series in Hermosillo on Tuesday. Next weekend, Navojoa will host Guasave while Hermosillo will be in Guadalajara for a trio of games against the Charros as all five teams seek to break up the relative logjam at the top.

MEXICAN PACIFIC LEAGUE STANDINGS: Navojoa 15-8, Guasave 14-8, Culiacan 13-10, Jalisco 13-10, Obregon 13-10, Hermosillo 12-11, Mexicali 10-13, Mazatlan 9-14, Monterrey 9-14, Los Mochis 6-16.

LMB PLANS APRIL 2022 OPENER, NINETY-GAME SEASON

    The Mexican League has announced that its Assembly of Presidents recently approved a 90-game regular season for 2022 running from late April until early August, followed by an extended postseason in which 12 of the Liga's 18 teams will qualify for playoff berths.

    The anouncement came from the LMB office in Mexico City, in which league president Horacio de la Vega stated, “I appreciate the encouragement and collaboration of all the presidents to define the key dates for the 2022 season in order to have adequate planning that will benefit us all: fans, television stations and sponsors.”

    The Mexican League regular season is slated to open Thursday, April 21, at Estadio Nacional, home of the defending champion Tijuana Toros. The Bulls' opponent was not mentioned. The rest of the LMB will swing into action one night later on Friday, April 22. The regular season, which will consist of a total of 810 games, will conclude on Sunday, August 7, with the playoffs to commence shortly thereafter. The Liga's All-Star Weekend will take place between June 17 through 19 in Monclova. There was no All-Star Game last summer.

    The playoffs will be similar to this year's format, in which the top six teams from each division will advance to the first round, with the three series winners moving on to the Division Semifinals along with a fourth “wild card” club that fared the best among the three opening round losers. The LMB will use a single-season format and discard the two-half look it's had in past seasons and that the Mexican Pacific League still employs during the winter.

    While the 90-game slate represents a 36 percent increase over this year's pandemic-shortened, 66-game schedule, it also marks a 25 percent reduction from 2019's 120-calendar and will be the circuit's shortest regular season since before it was officially brought into the National Association (now Minor League Baseball) as a Class AA league in 1955. The shaving of 30 games off the last full season is partly meant to limit financial losses for the vast majority of LMB teams who lose money every time they throw the gates open. The Liga will now play only 22 more regular games than the Mex Pac.

    The Mexican League is a member of Minor League Baseball but operates as an independent league devoid of any formal affiliations with Major League organizations. The Liga's classification was raised from AA to AAA in 1967 but the loop received no classification for 2021.

    There was also a 3-for-1 trade in the Mexican League last month that saw Monclova send infielder Jose Vargas plus pitchers Ryan Verdugo and reliever Andrew Morales to Saltillo for outfielder Juan Perez in what appears to be an Acereros payroll deduction. Vargas hit .302 with 8 homers and 28 RBIs in 46 games for Monclova last summer, Verdugo was 1-0 with a 14.49 ERA in 11 appearances (including two starts) while Morales went 1-2 and 4.81 in 23 relief outings. Perez hit .233 for the Saraperos in 2021, adding 10 homers and 26 ribbies in 65 games.

MEX PAC ROAD TRIP (Stop #5): Navojoa, Sonora

    From Obregon, we’ll continue our virtual Mexican Pacific League road trip with a short 43-mile hop south on Highway 15 to the fifth of ten stops: Navojoa, Sonora, home of the Mayos and one of the LMP's smaller markets with a 2020 population of 164,387.

    The word “navojoa” comes from the Mayo Indian dialect root “navo” (or “prickly pear cactus”) and “jova” (or “house”), therefore meaning “the house of prickly pear cactus.” Even before the Spaniards arrived, the Mayo tribe had possession of the land including the Rio Mayo and the Mayo Valley. Although Spanish explorer Diego de Guzman arrived in the area in 1536 and Jesuit missionaries began settling locally in the 17th Century, Navojoa dates back to 1825, when it was part of the old State of the West formed after the Mexican Independence War starting in 1810.

    Due to its geographical location, Navojoa has been considered from the start as the center of productivity of this region, combining with Ciudad Obregon to form the Mayo Valley, one of Mexico’s most productive agricultural regions. The most important businesses are concentrated in Navojoa, with the main northbound and southbound state highways and railroads coming through the city as well as highways going to Alamos and Yavaros.

    Known as “The Pearl of the Mayo”, Navojoa is a city of contrasts. In spite of its modern features, the city has preserved an array of important historical monuments in the area well worth visiting, among them the Municipal Palace, the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, sculpted monuments such as one erected in memory of General Alvaro Obregon, a plaza with obelisks in honor of the Talamante brothers.

    The Navojoa Mayos started in the Mexican Pacific League in the 1959-60 season and (after a two-year absence between 1960 and 1962) are playing their 60th consecutive season of winterball. After winning three titles in the old Pacific Coast League, the Mayos copped their first Mex Pac pennant in 1978-79 under manager Chuck Goggin and won their second (and last) flag in 1999-20 for skipper Lorenzo Bundy. They are now managed by Salon de la Fama member Matias Carrillo, who led Navojoa to the LMP finals against Hermosillo in 2013-14, one of ten times the Mayos have played the postseason bridesmaids. The team has retired two numbers: the 12 of Jose “Chico” Bojorquez and the 25 worn by Hector Heredia and

    “The Tribe” plays their home games at Estadio Manuel “Ciclon” Echevarria, an 11,500-seat ballpark named after a locally-born Salon de la Fama pitcher. The ballpark opened in time for the 1970-71 season and is owned by the Sonora state government. Navojoa is the only LMP city that hasn't built a new stadium or performed major renovations to its existing facility over the past decade.

RIELEROS PLAYERS ASK LMB FOR FINANCIAL HELP

Aguascalientes players celebrating a homer

Mexican baseball players are waiting out their summer of Wuhan virus-induced inactivity due to the canceled Mexican league season until they're able to suit up for the anticipated Mexican Pacific League season openers in mid-October. A number of them, however, are reaching the financial breaking point while trying to feed, clothe and house themselves and their families. While many, if not most, players are still waiting for promised assistance from the LMB franchises, one group has tired of empty promises and are appealing to the Liga office in Mexico City directly for help.

According to PuroBeisbol.com editor Fernando Ballesteros, players and coaches for the Aguascalientes Rieleros have written a letter to LMB president Horacio de la Vega seeking aid from the league office because the Railroaders has failed to do so. When the Liga announced on July 2 that they were cancelling their season for the first time in the loop's 95-year history, players and umpires were promised by de la Vega and the 16 LMB franchises that they would receive financial support throughout the summer. Instead, the only teams that have reportedly followed through are the Mexico City Diablos Rojos and Oaxaca Guerreros (both owned by billionaire Alfredo Harp Helu), although there may be others helping their players.

At the time of the announcement, the player assistance seemed a tall order for many of the LMB teams that typically operate on a proverbial wing and a prayer. One of the reasons the 2020 schedule was called off was the likelihood that fans would not be allowed inside ballparks to watch games, taking away the primary source of revenue in a circuit lacking large-scale sponsorships that bring in enough money to at least partially fill the monetary void that would be created by empty ballparks. While a handful of Mexican League teams like the Diablos, Monterrey, Monclova and Yucatan might have enough cash reserves to help their players, the majority of franchises like Aguascalientes simply lack the funds to do so.

When calls have been made in the past for LMB contraction, the Rieleros are usually one of the teams mentioned. Ever since Aguascalientes was first awarded a Liga franchise in 1975 (the current team marks the Railroaders' third incarnation), the city of 832,712 residents has only hoisted one pennant (1978) and more often resides near the bottom of both the standings and attendance tables.

Day game at Parque Alberto Romo Chavez

Last year was no different, as the Rieleros finished 12 games out of the playoffs, coming in sixth in the eight-team LMB North with a 54-65 record, while drawing 2,001 fans per game in 56 dates at 74-year-old Parque Alberto Romo Chavez for a total attendance of 112,077 on the season, 15th in the league (only Campeche attracted fewer patrons). Aguascalientes has averaged 3,000 or better in attendance twice since making their latest return to the Liga in 2012.

Aguascalientes does have some well-respected veterans on their roster like third baseman Michael Wing, catcher Carlos Rodriguez, 2017 LMB Pitcher of the Year Nestor Molina and future Salon de la Fama slugger Saul Soto, but the club is traditionally one of the most undercapitalized in the Mexican League and low revenues prevent bringing in top talent needed for a contending team.

While expectations the Rieleros were low even before the pandemic crossed the Pacific Ocean and scuttled the season, things are reaching critical mass with the team. Ballesteros quotes the letter, which was leaked to Puro Beisbol, as telling de la Vega "We are aware of the serious situation the world is going through, but we appeal to your support so that in some way we can be creditors of a loan or salary advance in order to be able to financially solve the needs of our families before everything returns to normality.”

The letter was signed by all the Aguascalientes players and coaches, including new manager Luis Carlos Rivera, who pitched for both Atlanta and Baltimore in 2000. Rivera managed Leon in 2018, turning in a 53-57 combined record for the LMB's two abbreviated seasons that year and reaching the playoffs in the Spring campaign.

MAYOS HOPING TO BRING BACK TAIWANESE PITCHER

Hu Chih-Wei pitching for Navojoa last year

Like every other team in the Mexican Pacific League, the Navojoa Mayos are figuring out who will comprise the three foreign players they're allowed for the upcoming 2020-21 season. Although team owner Victor Cuevas has confirmed that the Mayos will open the schedule with returnees Juan Perez (a ex-reds minor league who hit 23 homers for Saltillo in 2019) and former White Sox first base prospect Keon Barnum joining a newcomer, left-handed pitcher Mitch Lambson, who has been a starter the past four summers with Winnipeg of the independent American Association after being a reliever in the Astros system).

A fourth import listed as a reserve for Lorenzo Bundy's team will be coming the farthest to play for Navojoa if he gets the call. Taiwanese pitcher Hu Chih-Wei impressed the Mayos last winter in a short spell despite losing his only decision, turning in a 1.50 ERA with 13 strikeouts while walking only two batters over 18 innings in three starts. The 26-year-old righty is staying home for the time being after testing positive for the Wuhan virus but the team has remained in close contact with him.

Although he is a native of Taichung, home of the Chinese Professional Baseball League's Chinatrust Brothers, Hu has never pitched professionally in his homeland (although he did help Taiwan to a Silver medal at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea. By then, he was already pitching in the Twins system after signing with Minnesota in August 2012 as an international free agent at age 18.

Midway through the 2015 season, Hu was dealt to Tampa Bay and he went on to represent the Rays as the only Asian product on the World roster at the 2016 All-Star Futures Game in San Diego. That year, he went on to lead the AA Southern League with a 2.59 ERA pitching for Montgomery and was named a postseason All-Star.

Hu is all smiles after 2017 MLB debut with Rays

Hu made his MLB debut with Tampa Bay on April 24, 2017 by tossing a perfect eighth inning during a 6-3 loss at Baltimore. He went on to finish with six appearances for the Rays, all in relief, and won his first big league game on the road over the Yankees on September 28, hurling a frame in the Ray's 9-6 triumph as Tampa Bay scored seven times in the fifth inning. The 6'0" 243-pounder finished 2017 with a 1-1 record and a 2.70 ERA in ten MLB innings, spending most of the year with AAA Durham.

After a 2018 campaign in which he was primarily a starter at Durham (although he did pitch five more times for the Rays, going 0-0 and 4.15 while striking out 12 over 13 innings), Hu was traded to Cleveland for second baseman Gionti Turner. His experience with Tampa Bay personified the capricious nature of baseball, as Hu was recalled to the Rays no fewer than eleven times in 2017 and 2018 while being optioned back to AAA an equal number of times before he was shipped to the Tribe.

That began another odyssey of sorts for Hu, who spent time in both the Indians and Cubs organizations last summer (going 3-7 with a 7.74 ERA for four teams at the AAA and AA levels) prior to signing a free agent contract last December with San Diego, who assigned him to AAA El Paso with a slot at the Padres' training camp as a non-roster invitee. Hu returned to Taiwan when he wasn't named to the Padres' taxi squad after training camp was halted, the minor league season suspended and MLB schedule delayed due to the virus.

PROSPECT LEAGUE OPENS SECOND SEASON

As we saw last month in a translated Proceso article, it's been a trying couple of years for Mexico's Probeis and director Edgar Gonzales. The former MLB and NPB infielder was building a successful post-playing career as a Mexican Pacific League manager and team executive before getting tabbed by Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to head the federally-funded Probeis program to build baseball from the grass-roots level up. However, as Gonzalez told Proceso's Beatriz Pereyra, much of the funding has not been made available due to Mexico's legendary bureaucracy and the San Diego native (who grew up in Tijuana) been forced to fly by the seat of his pants ever since.

Which has to make the opening of a second season for the Mexican Prospect League (or LPM) that much sweeter for Gonzalez, who's seen enough go wrong since last year to have a heightened appreciation for when things go RIGHT.

The four-team LPM kicked off its 30-day schedule last Thursday with a doubleheader at Estadio Charros in Guadalajara, where the loop will play all games in 2020. The teams are named after four contemporary Mexican baseball figures: Juan Gabriel Castro, Jorge Cantu, Oliver Perez and Joakim Soria.

The LPM is designed to attract the attention of talent-seekers from colleges, MLB and other baseball organizations, dozens of whom were on hand last week. Organizers held a Showcase last Wednesday, a day before the one-month season began. It put 120 players between the ages of 14 and 18 from across Mexico on the field displaying their physical skills through on-field testing and drills.

Play opened the next day as the Cantus topped the Castros, 8-6, in the first game behind the two hits, two RBIs and one run scored by Heber Villalobos. Tadeo Alejandro Osuna, younger brother of Houston Astros closer Roberto, had three hits for the Castros, scoring one run and driving in another. In the nightcap, the Sorias shut out the Perezes, 9-0, with starter Roque Gutierrez earning the win in the two-hitter.

LPM action last Thursday in Guadalajara

Teams will play 15-game regular season schedules through Saturday, September 12, with daily doubleheaders Thursdays through Sundays followed by instruction sessions Mondays through Wednesdays. After an All-Star Game on Sunday, September 13, the LPM will hold three days of playoff semifinal doubleheaders from Tuesday, September 15 through Thursday, September 17. A two-day Final will be held Friday, September 18 and Saturday, September 19, followed by closing ceremonies on Sunday, September 20.

All LPM games will be streamed live and archived free of charge through the World Baseball Softball Confederation's channel on the GameTime website.

According to a story on SeptimaEntrada.com, the LPM "intends to build a successful platform for young baseball players with professional prospects to represent Mexico with dignity. The aim is for this development system to be the most effective in Mexican baseball and to become a benchmark model at the national and international level.

"The mission is to produce a summer league with a professional environment, which brings together the best prospects in the country to transmit academic-sports knowledge that decisively contributes to their personal and professional development."

OLMECAS' ORAMAS ENJOYS LIGHTS-OUT OUTING

Tabasco pitcher Juan Pablo Oramas

Juan Pablo Oramas has been one of the many pitchers in Mexican baseball who've crossed back and forth over the border during their careers.  After signing with San Diego as a 16-year-old international free agent from Tabasco, Oramas toiled two summers for the Padres' Dominican Summer League team in 2007 and 2008 prior to a spectacular Mexican League debut in 2009. Pitching for the Mexico City Diablos Rojos, the 5'10" lefty went 9-1 with a 2.31 ERA in 25 games (14 starts) and was named Rookie of the Year.

Oramas went back to the Padres and pitched another five years in their system and reached the AAA Pacific Coast League with Tucson and El Paso before his release following the 2014 campaign.  He signed with Toronto and attended spring training with the Jays before being let go in early April and returning south of the border for good with the Diablos in 2015.  Oramas went 15-8 over his first two summers back in Mexico City before a 1-6 record and 6.68 ERA over 15 starts in 2017 resulted in his offseason trade to Tabasco for veteran reliever Sergio Valenzuela.

He had a good Spring 2018 season for the Olmecas, going 6-2 with a 3.13 ERA in 11 outings, but fell to 2-3 and 5.09 last Fall.  Oramas was off to a rocky start in 2019 under new Tabasco manager Ramon Orantes at 2-6 and 4.97 this spring and there was nothing to indicate what would happen when he took the mound for the Olmecas to open the second half of the schedule against Durango in Villahermosa last Friday.

Oramas shut out Durango on 4 hits with 15 K's

Oramas turned in one of the most dominant performances of his 13-year career, blanking the Generales by a 1-0 count and scattering four singles.  He struck out 15 batters and walked two as 85 of his 118 pitches went for strikes. In an almost-prescient moment, the lights at Parque Centenario 27 de Febrero went out just after Oramas whiffed Durango leadoff batter Aneury Tavarez to start the game.

After the 20-minute delay, the 210-pounder went on to paint a nine-inning masterpiece in front of an intimate announced gathering of 1,234 spectators in the gallery. His Olmecas teammates would only score once, in the bottom of the first when Cuban newcomer Roel Santos led off with a triple and scored on a Gerson Manzanillo sacrifice fly to left, but that was all the support Oramas would need. His complete-game shutout was the Liga's third this season, following two Campeche hurlers, Francisco Rodriguez (April 27 vs. Oaxaca) and Manuel Flores (June 4 at Tabasco).

Tabasco dropped their next two games to the Generales to fall to open the second half at 1-2 (with a 22-39 season record).  The Olmecas are not without talent and definitely have a Cuban flavor: Besides recent-arivee Santos, outfielder Ronnier Mustelier is batting .407 with nine homers in 55 games while fellow gardener Daniel Carbonell has a .338 average with 11 homers and 12 steals.  Another import, Puerto Rican third baseman Jovan Rosa, is hitting .346 with seven homers and 33 RBIs in 36 contests as the entire Tabasco team has a .303 average to tie for ninth with Saltillo and Yucatan, which tells you how things have gone for pitchers with the new Franklin ball this year.  Orantes' mound staff has had it worse than most with a team ERA of 6.39 (and that's with FOUR shutouts, including Oramas' gem last Friday).

We say "worse than most" because Laguna (7.30), Aguascalientes (7.55) and Leon (7.88) pitchers may be forgiven for taking on nervous tics a la Herbert Lom's Inspector Dreyfus character in the Pink Panther movie series.   Rieleros pitchers in particular might be in a state of collective shellshock after serving up the most homers (138) and walks (297) while their 713 hits allowed and 490 runs allowed rank second.  Somehow amid the carnage surrounding him, Aguascalientes reliever Anthony Carter is 7-2 with seven saves and a 3.06 ERA over 25 appearances. Carter HAS given up eight homers in 32.1 innings so he's not exactly been unscathed.

MAYOS NAME ADAN MUNOZ MANAGER FOR 2019-20

New Navojoa Mayos manager Adan Munoz

A familiar figure among longtime Mexican baseball observers has been signed as the Navojoa Mayos' new manager.  Former catcher Adan Munoz will take the reins of the Mexican Pacific League team from Willie Romero. A combustible personality who won two Manager of the Year awards with Yucatan in the Mexican League and led the Mayos to the Mex Pac championship series in 2017-18, the 44-year-old Romero's contract was not renewed after Navojoa finished with a 26-31 overall record and missed the LMP playoffs last winter.  Prior to managing, the Venezuelan spent six years as an outfielder in the Dodgers organization and played another 14 summers in the Mexican League for Saltillo and Yucatan, batting .334 with 147 homers before his 2012 retirement. Romero hit .331 for the 2006 Liga champion Leones, collecting 24 of his 300 career stolen bases (eighth all-time in the LMB).

While Romero earned his playing reputation as a flamboyant centerfielder and baserunner, Munoz has been known as a tough, no-nonsense catcher over two decades in the Mexican League.  A career .279 hitter with 303 doubles and 162 homers among his 1,522 Liga hits, Munoz was named manager of the Quintana Roo Tigres on May 9, replacing Salon de la Fama member Jesus Sommers (the only man in LMB history with over 3,000 hits) at the helm with the Cancun club showing an 11-18 record.  Since then, the Tigres have gone 11-17 under Munoz. While not as visibly demonstrative as Romero, the 6'2", 215-pound Munoz is not without a boiling point and (like Walter Alston with the Dodgers years ago) the Empalme, Sonora native is tough enough to back up orders issued to his charges.

Adan Munoz batting earlier during his career

Munoz will take over a Navojoa team that had some talent in the dugout last season.  First baseman Victor Mendoza hit a team-high .323 with six homers and 30 RBIs and has since performed in the Caribbean Series and for the Mexican National Team in Japan, Alonzo Harris played second base and batted .302 with seven homers, scoring 51 runs, while third baseman Jovan Rosa clubbed 15 longballs with 45 RBIs to augment a .275 average.  Other Mayos vets last winter included shortstop Paul Leon, outfielder Alan Sanchez and catcher Fernando Flores, all former LMB All-Stars. Top Navojoa pitchers included Jaime Lugo (5-3 with a 2.75 ERA), Marco Carrillo (5-4, 3.08) and closer Jesus Pirela (3.22, 16 saves).

SEARCH CONTINUES FOR INVESTORS IN GUASAVE

Juan Navarrete to manage Guasave in 2019-20

          The search continues for investors in the Guasave's new Mexican Pacific League ballclub.  The Algodoneros were hastily established over the winter as fulfillment of an earlier campaign promise to voters in the Sinaloa city by then-candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, now president of Mexico.  Guasave re-enters the LMP next season along with Monterrey and while the Sultanes will bring one of the country's top baseball organizations and its largest ballpark into winterball with them, Guasave holds no such advantage in either history, facilities or resources.

The Algodoneros will play in the LMP's smallest market and in one of its oldest ballparks, although 49-year-old Estadio Francisco Carranza Limon is getting a major facelift thanks to billionaire Alfredo Harp Helu, who owns both the Mexico City Diablos Rojos and Oaxaca Guerreros.  Harp was induced by AMLO to put some pesos into the reborn Cottoneers and is largely footing the bill for stadium renovations (the 8,000-seat venue is expected to be ready when the Mex Pac opens play October 12), but has indicated he has no desire to own a third baseball team at this time.  

As a result, efforts are being made to find new investment money to maintain the fledgling franchise. Among the names being bandied about is Francisco Ochoa, a Guasave resident and founder of the El Pollo Loco chain of restaurants. Another is Guadalupe Miranda, called the "King of Beans" for his role as director of agribusiness giant Grupo Cintar in Los Mochis.

Veteran GM Gabriel Low, who has run teams in Leon and Guadalajara and been an MLB scout, announced the hiring of Salon de la Fama member Juan Navarrete as Guasave manager.  One of the greatest second basemen in Mexican League history (a .327 average on 1,979 hits with 236 steals over 16 seasons), the 65-year-old Durango native led the final iteration of the old Algodoneros in 2013-14. New owner Armando Navarro moved the team to Guadalajara, where Navarrete led the Jalisco Charros to the LMP Championship Series against eventual champion Culiacan in 2014-15. He's also in his third decade coaching in the Oakland minor league system. Son Juan, Jr. was an infielder at Grays Harbor College near the Washington coast last year.

Guasave shortstop Marco Jaime

A special mini-draft between the two LMP newcomers was held last week during which each team selected four players with dual citizenship (thus not counting against the six-foreigner limit).  The Algodoneros took shortstop Marco Jaime and pitchers Mark Serrano, Geno Encina and Adam Quintana. Jaime represented Leon at last week's All-Star Game in Mexico City while the three pitchers are all Monclova moundsmen in the LMB. For their part, the Sultanes selected pitcher Mario Morales (Monclova), first baseman Eric Aguilera (Union Laguna), utilityman Alex Mejia (Monclova) and third baseman Michael Wing (Aguascalientes).  Like Jaime, Wing performed in the recent LMB All-Star game and also took part in the Home Run Derby.

Between the expansion draft and last week's special draft, both Guasave and Monterrey each own the rights to 36 players with the July 3 LMP draft of unprotected players next in the roster-building process.

Culiacan sweeps Mexicali to reach MexPac title series

Culiacan DH Joey Meneses

Although it took the “lucky loser” rule for the Culiacan Tomateros to avert elimination from the Mexican Pacific League playoffs, luck had nothing to do with the Culichis’ sweep of defending champion Mexicali in the semifinals to punch their ticket to the LMP championship series.

The Tomateros began last week with a 7-4 Game Seven loss at home to Jalisco as Agustin Murillo had three hits (including a two-run homer) and three RBIs to give the Charros the deciding victory in their first round set.  However, Culiacan’s three wins in the series was enough to give them a berth in the second stage due to Mazatlan winning two games in their loss to Mexicali and Hermosillo earning just one triumph in their defeat to Navojoa.

Given that reprieve via LMP rules, the Tomateros then took on a Mexicali team that ran away with the second-half title and dismantled them easily, starting with a 6-2 win in the border city last Wednesday behind starter Edgar Gonzalez’ six innings of two-run pitching and Rico Noel’s single and double with two RBIs and one run scored.  Manager Benji Gil’s squad then took Thursday’s Game Two in Estadio B’Air, 5-4, with Joey Meneses’ ninth-inning single driving in LMP batting champ Sebastian Elizalde with what proved to be the game-winning run as Culiacan closer Chad Gaudin came turned in a 1-2-3 inning for the save.

After a travel day, the series shifted to Estadio Tomateros for Game Three on Saturday, with the hosts shutting out the Aguilas, 6-0, as Anthony Vazquez went all the way with a four-hitter for Culiacan, aided and abetted by Ali Solis’ three-run homer in the seventh.   The Tomateros put a wrap on the series and Mexicali’s season with a 6-4 win Sunday, with Issmael Salas’ sixth-inning bunt single driving in Ronnier Mustelier from third to break a 4-all tie.  The Tomateros picked up 38 hits over the four games while Mexicali’s defense broke down with ten errors, four of them coming in Sunday’s series-ending contest.

While the Aguilas will call it a winter, with players and manager Pedro Mere left to wonder how they so grandly missed a second trip to the Caribbean Series, the Tomateros will await the outcome of the Navojoa-Jalisco series to learn who they’ll face next in their attempt to bring an eleventh MexPac pennant to Culiacan.

Mayos one win away from LMP championship series berth

Navojoa (and Boston) RHP Hector Velazquez

The Navojoa Mayos are poised to move into the Mexican Pacific League championship series in their quest for the team’s first pennant since 2002-03 after taking a 3-games-to-1 lead over Jalisco in their LMP semifinal series.  Navojoa is not one of the LMP’s traditional powers, with just three titles in their 63-year franchise history, and the team is seeking its second trip to the finals since 1997-98.

The Mayos topped the Charros, 9-4, Sunday night in Guadalajara after jumping on Jalisco starter David Reyes for four runs on four hits, including a two-out single up the middle by Fernando Flores that scored Jesse Castillo and Jovan Rosa.  Willie Romero’s charges went on to take a 7-1 lead into the sixth inning and cruised to the win.  Designated hitter Max Ramirez had a big night for the visitors, belting two homers and driving in three runs while leadoff hitter Angel Gonzalez contributed three singles and a double, scoring once.  Eddie Gamboa earned the win after allowing two runs in five frames for his third postseason victory.  Reyes was tagged with the loss.

Navojoa opened the series at home last Wednesday and beat the Charros, 4-1, behind a decent five-inning outing from starting pitcher Hector Velazquez.  The Red Sox hurler allowed eight hits but only let in one run as Cardinals farmhand Randy Arozarena socked a solo homer in the bottom of the first to give Velazquez and the Mayos a lead they’d build on and hold the entire game.  Game Two on Thursday ended with Jalisco prevailing 4-3 in their lone win of the series thus far.  The Charros opened with two runs in the top of the first inning, including a game-opening homer from Yordanys Linares, and added two more in the second on a Linares triple.  Starter Tyler Alexander carried a shutout into the fifth and pitched through the sixth for the win, giving up five hits and two walks, striking out six Mayos batters as Jalisco erased Navojoa’s home-field advantage.

The series shifting to Guadalajara, however, has done the Charros no favors.  The Mayos won both weekend encounters, including a 6-3 Saturday tilt in which both Ramirez and Gonzalez lofted two-run homers in support of opener Barry Enright.  The former Diamondbacks starter went 7.1 strong innings for the win, scattering five hits and two runs while whiffing four.  Sunday’s win put the Charros in must-win mode for Monday’s Game Five at home.  Velazquez will seek his third playoff win for the Mayos while Jalisco skipper Roberto Vizcarra will send out Octavio Acosta, who’s followed up a standout summer with Mexico City (14-1, 2.99) with a solid winter for the Charros (7-3, 3.94).  Acosta has been rocked for an 8.59 ERA and a loss in two postseason starts, however.

Four LMB teams still without managers as training camps approach

Houston Jimenez with Tabasco in 2015

With training camp for the Mexican League’s two 2018 seasons about a month away, four LMB franchises are still shopping for a manager.  The Tabasco Olmecas are searching for a new leader to replace Vicente Palacios, the Saltillo Saraperos still have a vacancy after Marco Antonio Romero was not rehired and the Monterrey Sultanes have gone back to the drawing board after Miguel Ojeda spurned an offer to take a similar job in Durango (although the Generales’ unsettled ownership situation makes that a tentative commitment).

While the term “managerial job security” is an oxymoron in Mexican baseball, Tabasco may stand out even by the status quo south of the border.  The franchise as run by the Dagdug brothers is a perpetual also-ran on the field (one pennant in 53 years) and a fiasco off of it, with ongoing electrical problems at 53-year-old Parque Centenario 27 de Febrero serving as a symbol of sorts for the poorly-supported Olmecas, who averaged an LMB-worst 1,437 fans per game last summer.  While Villahermosa is not a preferred destination for men on the Mexican managerial merry-go-round, rumor has Alfonso “Houston” Jimenez returning for his second tour of duty with the Olmecas, including a 2015 season during which the ex-Twins shortstop marked his 800th career win as a Mexican League helmsman.  Jimenez was fired during the 2017 season as skipper from his tenth managerial job last summer in Oaxaca.  

Then you have the once-proud Saltillo Saraperos, who less than a decade ago won two consecutive Mexican League pennants and led all of Minor League Baseball in attendance under the ownership of deep-pocketed Juan Manuel Ley, whose family continues to own the Culiacan Tomateros in the wake of his death.  However, the Saraperos have fallen upon hard times since the Leys sold the franchise in 2013 after fourteen seasons in the Coahuila city, missing the playoffs in 2017 under managers Orlando Sanchez (fired after failing to recapture the glory days of 2008-10 under his watch) and Romero, once one of Mexico’s top sluggers.  With Romero gone, some observers expected Lino Rivera to be named Saltillo’s new skipper until the team board of directors publicly ruled that out, shifting attention to Panamanian Lenin Picota as a potential dugout boss.

Next we come to the Monterrey Sultanes, who’ve had an interesting year after owner Jose “Pepe” Maiz sold half the team to Grupo Multimedios last February.  While the Sultanes, under new general manager Guillermo “Willie” Gonzalez (who replaced fixture Roberto Magdaleno in the front office after the sale) were able to induce enough people out to Estadio Monterrey to lead MiLB with an average attendance of 11,575 per game, the team fell to Tijuana in the LMB North championship series for the second year in a row, leading to the decision to not bring back Felix Fermin as skipper (although Fermin remains on the roster as a third-base coach).  A deal between the Sultanes and Ojeda, who led Mexico City to the Liga pennant in 2014, was believed to have been worked out until the former big league catcher backed out to manage in Durango instead.  Since then, nobody’s name has surfaced as front-runner in Monterrey.

Finally, let’s talk about Durango.  The Generales’ difficulties in their first year have been exhausted here (you can check the archives in BBM’s right-hand column to review the carnage), but the underfinanced team drew well in the state capital even after their season went south following a surprisingly respectable showing during a month-long road trip to open 2017 as renovations to Estadio Francisco Villa were hurriedly being done.  Cuban skipper Joe Alvarez went from too-early “Manager of the Year” talk to unemployed after embattled owner Virgilio Ruiz fired Alvarez after the season.  While Ojeda has been named as the new skipper in Durango, Ruiz is said to be trying to sell his virtually-insolvent franchise that the league had to take over down the stretch and any new owners would not necessarily be obliged to honor a deal that Ruiz made with Ojeda.

Mayos first to reach LMP semis; Hermosillo, Mazatlan out

Navojoa Mayos knuckleballer Eddie Gamboa

The Navojoa Mayos were the first team to qualify for the Mexican Pacific League playoff semifinals after bouncing first-half champion Hermosillo in five games, capping the set with a Friday win.  The Mayos pitching staff was the story of this series, holding the Naranjeros to a miniscule .153 batting average.  Outfielder Cedric Hunter contributed a .313 mark, including the lone homer for the Orangemen, but Hermosillo hitters were putty in the hands of Navojoa hurlers Hector Velazquez, Jaime Lugo and especially veteran knuckleballer Eddie Gamboa, who won both his starts and limited the Naranjeros to two unearned runs on five hits in 12.1 innings.  Hermosillo was shut out twice and held to one run once before being eliminated, 4-3, on Friday night to send home 13,195 disappointed fans at Estadio Sonora.  Mexican League MVP Jesse Castillo topped the Mayos offense by going 7-of-18 (.389) with five RBIs, including two ribbies in a three-hit Game Five.  Randy Arozarena had four hits and scored twice in Friday's clincher.

While the Mayos move on in the hope of securing Navojoa's first LMP pennant since 1999-2000, ironically under current Hermosillo manager Lorenzo Bundy, the Naranjeros were the first team to exit the MexPac playoffs and face a long offseason with plenty of questions about what went wrong.  Bundy's job status after several winters with the team is in more doubt than ever.

A Philadelphia native who lives in Tucson between seasons, Bundy won't have long to lick his wounds.  He was hired last week to replace former MLB infielder Tim Johnson as manager of the Mexican League's Puebla Pericos for the 2018 season.  Johnson took over the defending champion Pericos from Von Hayes in early June and led the team to an unexpected return to the LMB championship series after owner Gerardo Benavides transferred most of the Parrots' roster to his other Liga team in Monclova.  Bundy coached under Don Mattingly in Miami last summer.

Navojoa defeated Hermosillo, 4 games to 1
Jan. 1  NAVOJOA 5-9-0, Hermosillo 0-1-1 (Eddie Gamboa tosses 7 innings of 1-hit shutout ball)
Jan. 2  NAVOJOA 3-5-1, Hermosillo 0-5-2 (Hector Velazquez blanks Naranjeros over 5.1 innings)
Jan. 4  HERMOSILLO 4-6-0, Navojoa 3-10-1 (Cedric Hunter homer in 7th breaks 3-3 tie)
Jan. 5  Navojoa 5-7-1, HERMOSILLO 1-3-2 (Jovan Rosa hits 2-run HR, Jesse Castillo has 2 RBIs)
Jan. 6  Navojoa 4-10-2, Hermosillo 3-8-1 (Jesse Castillo 3 RBIs on 3 hits, Randy Arozarena 4 hits)


Aguilas crush Mazatlan, 10-1, Sunday to qualify for second round

C.J. Retherford had 3 game-winning hits for Mexicali

Defending champion Mexicali was stretched a little farther in their opening round series, requiring six games to eliminate Mazatlan.  The Aguilas punched their way to a resounding 10-1 win Sunday at home, banging out 20 hits to the delight of the Estadio Gasmart crowd.  The game was scoreless until the bottom of the fourth inning, when the Eagles plated three runs on four hits, including an RBI double by C.J. Retherford, and never looked back.  Chris Roberson, Walter Ibara and Luis Juarez had three hits apiece while Xorge Carrillo belted a two-run homer in a four-run Mexicali sixth.  Aguilas starter Sergio Mitre was the beneficiary of his mates' hitting outburst and earned the win after tossing six frames of one-hit shutout ball.

Up until Sunday's win, C.J. Retherford had a week he'll tell his grandsons about by personally delivering the game-winning hit in Mexicali's first three victories.  The former White Sox minor league infielder was irate about being left off the Aguilas roster for the Caribbean Series last winter under then-manager Roberto Vizcarra and has returned to the postseason with a vengeance.  Retherford's RBI double in the bottom of the ninth ended the Aguilas' 2-1 win in Game One last Monday, followed by a walkoff solo homer in the eleventh one night later as the borderites triumphed, 3-2.  After one day off and a Mazatlan win Thursday behind Brian Hernandez' 3-run blast, Retherford was at it again Friday, when his solo homer in the top of the ninth accounted for the game's lone run in the Aguilas' 1-0 win at Mazatlan as Mexicali starter Justin De Fratus and Venados' Dustin Crenshaw swapped zeros until reliever Nick Stuck gave up Retherford's dinger.

 After a sketchy first half under Vizcarra, who was fired less than a year after leading the Aguilas to last winter's pennant, Mexicali has responded under Mere (who piloted Tijuana to the LMB title this summer) by running away with the second-half title.  The Eagles are hoping for a second straight trip to the Serie del Caribe and Retherford wants to make sure he's not forgotten if they make it to Guadalajara.  Mazatlan is done for the season after manager Daniel Fernandez' squad won just two first-round games.  Jalisco's win at Culiacan Sunday night ensured both those teams will advance no matter who wins Game Seven of that series Monday.

Mexicali defeated Mazatlan, 4 games to 2
Jan. 1  MEXICALI 2-4-0, Mazatlan 1-7-0 (C.J. Retherford hits walkoff RBI double in 9th for win)
Jan. 2  MEXICALI 3-10-0, Mazatlan 2-6-0 <11> (C.J. Retherford belts walkoff solo HR in 11th)
Jan. 4  MAZATLAN 3-8-0, Mexicali 0-2-1 (Alejandro Soto, two relievers combine on 2-hitter)
Jan. 5  Mexicali 1-6-0, MAZATLAN 0-3-0 (C.J. Retherford's 1B in 9th drives in game's lone run)
Jan. 6  MAZATLAN 5-10-1, Mexicali 3-9-2 (Brian Hernandez 3-run HR in 7th keys comeback win)
Jan. 7  MEXICALI 10-20-1, Mazatlan 1-4-0 (Xorge Carrillo had 3-run HR as Aguilas had 20 hits)


Charros blank Culiacan, 2-0, to force Game Seven on Monday

Jalisco slugger Japhet Amador has 4 homers in 6 games

In what has turned out to be the best of the MexPac's three opening-round playoff series, the Culiacan Tomateros have traded victories with the Jalisco Charros throughout the first six games of their set, including a Jalisco win Sunday night in Culiacan to tie things up at three games apiece and force a Game Seven on Monday at Estadio Tomateros.  Regardless of who cops the series, both teams will advance to the LMP semifinals because the club that comes up short will have won three games in a losing effort.  That'll be enough to punch a ticket to the semis as the first round's "lucky loser" by nudging out Mazatlan (two wins) and Hermosillo (one win) for most wins in a series loss.

David Reyes was joined by four Jalisco relievers, including MLB free agent Sergio Romo, in tossing a combined three-hit 2-0 shutout Sunday as 15,148 onlookers watched in Culiacan.  Reyes tossed five innings of hitless ball with four strikeouts before being replaced after 78 pitches with a 1-0 lead, courtesy of Japhet Amador's leadoff homer in the fourth (the Mulege Giant's fourth roundtripper of the series after failing to go deep in his final nine games of the regular season). Manuel Flores, who replaced Reyes, lost the no-hit bid by allowing singles to Rico Noel and Joey Meneses in the sixth but those were the only safeties the Tomateros would pick up all night.  Jabari Blash, who was dealt from San Diego to the Yankees in last month's trade that sent Chase Headley back to the Padres, hit a solo insurance homer for the Charros in the ninth as Romo worked the last two frames for his second save.

Culiacan opened the series last Monday with a 2-1 win in Guadalajara and the two combatants have gone back and forth since.  If Game Seven holds to form, the Tomateros would win the series but Mazatlan's loss in Mexicali Sunday takes the pressure off both squads.  While there've been some strong performances in this matchup of two longtime rivals (and hosts of the 2017 and 2018 Caribbean Series), Amador has stood out by socking homers in each of the past three contests.  Three of his dingers in the series have been solo shots as the Rakuten Golden Eagles DH has a .333 average over six playoff contests.  The massive slugger will spend his third summer in Japan later this year.

Starters have been announced for Monday night's deciding game.  Former Yankees prospect Will Oliver (who's spent the past four years pitching independent ball) will be on the hill for Jalisco after a no-decision last Thursday, when he allowed two runs on seven hits in 5.1 innings in a 3-2 loss.  He went 1-4 with a 4.18 ERA in the regular season.  Salvador Valdez will be handed the ball by Tomateros helmsman Benji Gil.  Valdez gave up two runs on four hits over six innings in last Tuesday's 4-2 home loss to Jalisco.  The Culiacan-born righty was 2-2 with a 2.83 ERA in eight starts for the Tomateros.
 
Culiacan and Jalisco are tied, 3 games to 3
Jan. 1  CULIACAN 2-1-2, Jalisco 1-6-1 (Two runs score on Ronnier Mustelier ground-out in 4th)
Jan. 2  Jalisco 4-8-1, CULIACAN 2-8-0 (Gabriel Gutierrez singles and homers with 2 RBIs)
Jan. 4  Culiacan 3-8-0, JALISCO 2-7-0 (D'Arby Myers singles twice, walks, scores, drives in run)
Jan. 5  JALISCO 7-17-1, Culiacan 6-10-0 <12> (Agustin Murillo doubles, scores winner in 12th)
Jan. 6  Culiacan 5-7-0, JALISCO 4-8-0 (Ali Solis 3-run HR in 4th for Tomateros holds up)
Jan. 7  Jalisco 2-5-2, CULIACAN 0-3-0 (Japhet Amador hits 4th playoff HR in road shutout)