Culiacan, Hermosillo win; Game Seven semis set for Thursday

Both Culiacan and Hermsosillo had to win road games Wednesday to stay alive in their respective Mexican Pacific League semifinal series.  The Tomateros and Naranjeros responded to the "Win-or-go-home" challenges by copping victories to extend each set to a seventh and deciding game Thursday night.  Ramiro Pena's three-run homer highlighted a six-run outburst in the sixth inning, propelling Culiacan to a 9-2 triumph in Los Mochis as a standing-room crowd of 11,192 watched at Estadio Emilio Ibarra Almada.  Hermosillo likewise won big, 7-2, in Mexicali as Dodgers farmhand O'Koyea Dickson (pictured) walloped two homers in front of a full house of 17,000 at the Aguilas' Estadio B'Air.

Thursday's Game Sevens in Los Mochis and Mexicali will both get underway at 7:30PM Mountain Time.

Culiacan 9-13-1, LOS MOCHIS 2-5-0

As seems his wont, Hector Daniel Rodriguez has brought his "A" game to the postseason for Culiacan.  The Tomateros' homegrown lefty went 4-6 with a 3.50 ERA in 13 starts during the regular season, a subpar winter for him.  Since the playoffs began, however, the 32-year-old lefty has kicked into overdrive and the result is a 4-0 record with a 2.52 ERA, including Wednesday's 9-2 win at Los Mochis.  Rodriguez allowed one run while scattering five hits in six innings for the Tomateros, striking out nine Caneros batsmen and walking two.  Sixty of his 93 pitches went for strikes before leaving the game with a 6-1 lead.  Rodriguez has earned a reputation as a big game pitcher, winning the MVP award at last winter's Caribbean Series as a reinforcement pickup of the champion Mazatlan Venados.

The contest was competitive for the first few innings.  Culiacan drew first blood by scoring a run on a Joey Meneses sacrifice fly to center in the top of the second that brought in Ronnier Mustelier.  Mochis tied it up at 1-1 in the bottom of the fourth when vet Saul Soto doubled in Leandro Castro from first.  One of the ageless wonders of Mexican baseball, the 38-year-old Soto is hitting .343 in the playoffs while, like Rodriguez, playing for his hometown team.  Culiacan broke the tie with two runs in the fifth as Caneros starter Luis Niebla self-destructed by giving up two hits, walking two more batters and hitting a batter before he was mercifully lifted for Isaaac Jimenez, who got Issmael Salas to fly out with the bases loaded to keep the floodgates from opening.  That happened in the sixth, when six more Culiacan runners crossed the plate to make it 8-1.  Pena's three-run bomb was the deepest cut as eleven Tomateros strode to the plate against four Mochis pitchers.  From that point it was acamedic, although the Caneros did score one final run in the seventh.

Mustelier finished the night with three hits, two runs scored and one driven in for Culiacan, who also got two hits each from longtimers Jose Manuel Rodriguez and Oscar Robles.  Niebla took the loss for Mochis, although special mention should be given to reliever Lenix Osuna, who faced five batters and allowed four runs (including Pena's blasted) without retiring a batter.  Onetime Red Sox minor leaguer J.C. Linares had two of the Caneros' five hits, including a double, while throwing out Culiacan's Ryan Lollis at the plate from center field to end the third inning.

Hermosillo 7-12-0, MEXICALI 2-12-2

Dickson had a huge game at the plate for the Naranjeros, going 3-for-4 with two homers, four RBIs and a pair of runs to pace Hermosillo's must-win 7-2 road triumph at La Nida in Mexicali.  It was a forgettable night for both starting pitchers, with Travis Blackley of Hermosillo and Mexicali's Hector Velazquez combining to cough up 15 hits and six runs over eight innings between them.  It was left to unsung Jose Samayoa to relieve Blackley and hold the fort until the Orangemen offense found its bearings.

The Naranjeros got on the board in the top of the first via a two-out Dickson solo homer off Velazquez to left. Xorge Carrillo scored on a force out in the second to pull Mexicali even.  Hermosillo responded by adding a run in the third when Jason Bourgeois came in on a Dickson groundout, but the Eagles came back again to knot the score at 2-2 in the bottom of the third as Luis Juarez doubled off Blackley and then scored on an Agustin Murrillo single up the middle.  Hermosillo effectively put the game away with two runs in the fifth on Dickson's second homer (with Carlos Gasteul on base) and two more in the sixth when a Bourgeois single and an error by Naranjeros centerfielder Chris Roberson plated Sergio Burruel and Jorge Flores to make it a 6-2 tilt.  Hermosillo added a final run in the ninth, but it was superfluous by then.

Blackley struggled into the fourth frame, when he was relieved by Samayoa with two on and one out.  It took two pitches for Samayoa to get Ramon Rios to ground to third for a 5-4-3 double play to end the inning.  Samayoa, a Hermosillo product who spent time in the Rangers system, got the win after throwing four innings of shutout ball, giving up three hits and two walks while striking out two.  Velazaquez took the loss for the Aguilas as the Pitcher of the Year candidate's playoff miseries continued, giving up four runs on seven hits and two free passes to see his postseason ERA rise to 8.38.  Rafael Martin got his fifth save in January for the Naranjeros.  Besides Dickson, the Hermosillo bats were also led by Gastelum's two hits and two runs plus Bourgeois' two hits, a run and RBI. Yordanys Linares (no relation to Mochis' J.C., although both are Cubans) went 4-for-4 for Mexicali, but neither scored nor drove in a run.

HERMOSILLO WINS 4 OF 5 TO CLAIM EARLY MEXPAC LEAD

With more than ten weeks and 60-plus games per team remaining in the regular season, it's a little early to be pinning the "contender" label on any Mexican Pacific League team after five games.  On the other hand, the Hermosillo Naranjeros haven't done anything to dispel that notion, either.

Manager Lorenzo Bundy's Orangemen reeled off four wins out the gate, winning both ends of a home-and-away series with ravals Obregon and beating Navojoa two straight before losing their first game, a 3-2 heartbreaker in 12 innings decision at the hands of the Mayos Sunday as 15,615 watched at Estadio Sonora.  Humberto Sosa's single to left scored speedy rookie Randy Arozarena from second in the top of the 12th to give the Mayos the final margin of victory.

The Naranjeros have three hitters topping the .300 mark in the young season: Outfielder Efren Navarro is third in the LMP batting race with a .450 mark, third baseman Jose Amador is fifth at .438 and outfielder Eric Young, Jr. checks in at .381.  Amador is tied for third with Mazatlan's Cyle Hankerd at 2 homers each after a strange summer in which Amador walked out on the Monclova Acereros a day after winning the All-Star Game MVP trophy and eventually forced a trade to Campeche, where he hit .326 for the Piratas en route to an even .300 average with 16 homers for the summer.

Still, it's been pitching that's put Hermosillo on top, with the Naranjeros' 2.25 team ERA standing second in the loop to Obregon's microscopic 1.84 mark.  Starters Juan Pablo Oramos and Casey Coleman are both 1-0 with 1.80 ERAs after each tossing five-inning starts last week.  Closer Paul Sewald has three saves in four relief appearances; the Mets farmhand has yet to give up a run.

Obviously it remains to be seen whether the Naranjeros (who have eleven MLB minor leaguers on their roster) can remain in the front of the MexPac standings.  So far in the early going, however, they've been up to the task.

And, no, she's not on Hermosillo's roster, but she IS wearing a Naranjeros jersey. Good enough.


MEXICALI'S RIOS GOES 10-FOR-21, LEADS LMP BAT TITLE CHASE

Ramon Rios is following up a standout Mexican League season for Monterrey by starting the Mexican Pacific League campaign en fuego at the plate for the Mexicali Aguilas.  Rios batted .344 for the Sultanes last summer to post his third straight .339+ Liga season.  A hitter with more place than power despite tipping the scales at 200 pounds, Rios has just just 14 homers in that timespan.  He then opened the winterball season by going 10-for-21 in his first five games for the Aguilas for a .476 average to top the early MexPac batting leaderboard.  True to form, Rios has nine singles and one double while scoring five runs.  He has yet to strike out at the plate.

Mexicali teammate Luis Juarez is second to Rios in the batting race at .471.  Juarez, who hit a disappointing .258 with six homers for Monterrey over the summer, has a homer and seven RBIs in five contests for the Eagles.  Hermosillo's Efren Navarro is third with a .450 average while Mexicali's veteran outfielder Chris Roberson is fourth at .444.  Jose Amador of Hermosillo is fifth with a .438 mark.

A pair of Cuban outfielders in Los Mochis have taken the lead among home run hitters.  Yadir Drake and J.C. Linares each have four longballs.  Drake poked a pair of homers against Navojoa in the Caneros' October 13 home opener while Linares socked two bombs one night later against Culiacan in the midst of a three-game, four-homer stretch.  Hermosillo's Amador and Mazaltan first sacker Cyle Hankerd are tied for third with two dingers apiece.

Culiacan outfielders Sebastian Elizalde and Joey Meneses are running 1-2 in the RBI derby.  Elizalde, a Reds minor league, has 10 ribbies and Meneses (a five-year player in the Braves system) has driven in 8 runners.  Elizalde, Hermosillo's Eric Young, Jr. and Ronnie Mustelier, Culiacan's third Cuban outfielder are all tied for first with 7 runs scored.  Mustelier defected from Cuba in 2011 on a boat with 20 people, leaving behind a son.  He later signed with the Yankees for $50,000 and spent four years in their organization.  The 32-year-old Mustelier hit .292 and was an International League mid-season All-Star with the Braves' Gwinnett affiliate this summer.


SIX STARTERS TOSS 5+ SHUTOUT FRAMES FOR OPENING WINS

Unlike the summer Mexican League, which has had a "hitter's league" reputation for decades, winter's Mexican Pacific League has long been known as a place where pitcher excel.  While Mexican baseball legend Hector Espino had his way with LMP hurlers for more than two decades, most MexPac hitters have to scrape for everything they get.  Last week served as one more example as six LMP pitchers tossed five or more shutout innings in scoring wins in their first starts of the 2016-17 season.  No pitcher had two wins heading into Monday's travel day.

Julian Arballo (Los Mochis), Blake Beavan (Obregon), Onelki Garcia (Mexicali), Arturo Lopez (Obregon), Hector Daniel Rodriguez (Culiacan) and Hector Velazquez (Navojoa) all went unscathed and took wins in their initial starts of the winter season.  Arballo, a Cal Baptist product who saved 11 games for the Yankees' Gulf Coast League rookie team in 2009, allowed just one hit in five entradas against Culiacan for an October 14 win while one night later, former Mariners starter Beavan carried a shutout into the sixth to take the win over Jalisco. Another starter, Obregon's Marco Carrillo tossed six innings and gave up one unearned run in a no-decision while Jalisco's Marco Tovar pitched in even tougher luck by going five frames against Beavan on the 15th, giving up one unearned run in five innings but being tagged with the loss.

Velazquez struck out eight Los Mochis batsmen in winning his October 12 start for the Mayos to grab the early league lead in that category, one more than Mochis' Manny Barreda, Mexicali's Efren Delgado and Velazquez' Mayos teammate Jose Oyervides.  Hermosillo's Paul Sewald has three saves to top the circuit, one more than Navojoa's Kyle Grana.