Los Mochis, Mexicali win classic Game Sevens, will play for LMP pennant

Sebastian Valle's two-run double was the key blow in a three-run seventh inning as Los Mochis punched their ticket to the Mexican Pacific League championship series Thursday night with a 3-1 home win over Culiacan.  The Caneros will face Mexicali, who reached the title series thanks to a Herculean performance from closer Jake Sanchez (pictured), who pitched 7.2 innings of scoreless relief as the Aguilas outlasted Hermosillo, 4-3, in 16 innings.

LOS MOCHIS 3-6-1, Culiacan 1-8-2

This one was a pitcher's duel all the way, as Caneros starter Roy Merritt locked horns with his Culiacan counterpart, Zack Dodson as the two Texans traded zeros on the scoreboard through five innings. Tomateros rightfielder Joey Meneses led off the third with the game's first hit on a single, but died there as Merritt retired the next three batters in order.  Culiacan finally broke through with the first score of the night in the top of the sixth.  Veteran Jose Manuel "Manny" Rodriguez started things off with a one-out single, then moved to third when Ramiro Pena lashed a double to third.  After intentionally walking Eugenio Velez to load the bases, Merritt was replaced by Isaac Rodriguez, who plunked Issmael Salas with his first pitch to give Rodriguez an easy stroll home to put the Tomateros ahead, 1-0.  That was all it took for Mochis manager Luis Sojo to yank Salas and bring in Santiago Gutierrez.  After Gutierrrez got Oscar Robles to pop out in foul territory, Sojo then waved Jon Sintes in from the bullpen to end the inning on a Meneses fly out.

Dodson carried the lead into the bottom of the seventh, when the game turned.  After giving up a leadoff single to Leandro Castro on his 87th pitch of the night, Dodson was pulled by Cuiliacan skipper Che Reyes in favor of middleman David Goforth.  The Brewers righty was able to get Saul Soto to foul out to leftfielder Ryan Lollis but then walked Yosmany Guerra on five pitches to put two men on with Valle coming up.  The newly-acquired Mariners farmhand drilled a 2-and-1 Goforth offering into right field for a two-bagger to bring in Castro and Guerra, giving the Caneros the lead, with Valle advancing to third on a Rodriguez throwing error.  That was enough for manager Reyes, who called in MLB vet Oliver Perez to face pinch-hitter Sergio Garcia.  The Nationals right-hander struck out Garcia for the second out but was then tagged for a triple to right by Velez, with Valle crossing the plate to make it a 3-1 Mochis lead and that was all she wrote for the visitors.  Sergio Romo tossed two scoreless innings for his fifth playoff save to end the game and close the series for the Caneros.

Sintes was credited with the win for his perfect one-and-a-third innings of pitching, but the table was more than set by Merritt's 5.1 opening innings of work.  The seven-year Mets minor leaguer let up six hits with one runner scoring in a solid performance.  As good as the 31-year-old lefty was, Dodson may have been a little better as the one-time Pirates fourth-rounder allowed just two hits and two walks in six frames, allowing one run and striking out four.  Goforth took the loss for the Tomateros as another sellout crowd of 11,132 at Estadio Emilio Ibarra celebrated the Caneros moving one step closer to their first pennant since 2002-03.

MEXICALI 4-18-1, Hermosillo 3-12-1

The "other" semifinal was likewise a pitching-dominated matchup as Hermosillo and Mexicali took their fight into double overtime before the Aguilas finally shook off the Narajeros, 44-3, in 16 innings.  The contest looked like it might turn into a slugfest as both teams scored twice in the first inning.  Hermosillo  got on the board when O'Koyea Dickson singled in Jason Bourgeois and Carlos Gastelum came in on a Jose Amador safety, both off Aguilas starter Kameron Loe.  The Aguilas punched back when Chris Roberson led off the bottom of the first with a double and scored on a Yuniesky Betancourt double one out later.  Betancourt subsequently moved to third on a C.J. Retherford single and scored when Luis Juarez hit a sacrifice fly to right.

The 2-2 score held until the top of the fifth, when Dickson lofted his third homer in two nights into the left field bleachers off a Barry Enright serving, but the hosts came back in the seventh on Yordanys Linares' two-out single to left that plated Ramon Rios.  Linares tried taking second on the hit but was thrown out by Dickson in left. After that, it was nothing but goose eggs on the board inning after inning as the game ended at 2:33AM local time.  The contest finally concluded in the bottom of the 16th, beginning with Roberson's leadoff single off Hector Galvan.  The ex-Phil then advanced to second on a Jon Del Campo sacrifice bunt, took third when Betacourt singled and eventually scored the semi-winning run when LMP bat champ Luis Suarez poked a bases-loaded single to right off Hermosillo reliever Wilmer Rios.

Loe was touched for five hits and two runs in the first, only getting one batter out.  One-time Braves prospect Edgar Osuna pitched 3.1 innings of one-hit shutout ball after relieving Loe, but it was closer Jake Sanchez who reached back for Mexicali with an outing that legends are made of.  The 2013 Pioneer League Pitcher of the Year entered the contest in the top of the eighth and pitched into the 15th, blanking the Orangemen over 7.2 frames on two hits and two walks while racking up eleven K's in a 116-pitch performance.  Javier Solano took over for Sanchez and was credited with the win, but the mound belonged to the Cal Baptist product Thursday night as 13,110 fans were in the stands at Estadio B'Air when the game began.

Enright had a fair start for Hermosillo, giving up three runs in 6.2 innings with no walks.  Six relievers combined to held the Aguilas scoreless until the end.  Galvan suffered the loss despite 3.1 otherside good innings in which he let up only two hits and struck out two.  Betancourt and Juarez each had four of the Aguilas' 18 hits while Amador finished with four hits of his own.

Mexicali, Mochis win romps, both go up 2 games to 0

The Mexicali Aguilas chased Hermosillo starter Travis Blackley to the showers with an eight-run outburst in the bottom of the third inning en route to a 16-6 manhandling of the Naranjeros at Estadio B'Air Thursday night in their Mexican Pacific League semifinal series.  In the other MexPac Final Four matchup in Los Mochis, a three-run homer from Saul Soto (pictured) served as the centerpiece of the Caneros' seven-run seventh in their 14-2 blowout of Culiacan in Estadio Emilio Ibarra Almada.

Both the Aguilas and Caneros now lead their series, 2 games to 0, heading into Friday's Game Three contests in Hermosillo and Culiacan, respectively.


LOS MOCHIS 14-17-1, Culiacan 2-10-2

Soto's homer was one of four Los Mochis longballs served up by three different Tomateros pitchers in the fateful seventh as the Caneros broke open what had been a competitive game.  Mochis scored the first run of the contest on a wild play that began when Phillies farmhand Leandro Castro bunted down the third base line, drawing a hurried throw from Culiacan's Issmael Salas that sailed into right field foul territory, allowing Castro to streak all the way to second.  He kept on going after rightfielder Sebastian Elizalde made a poor relay throw back toward the infield, scampering around third and coming in to score on a play even Ty Cobb would've smiled at in approval.

The Caneros scored twice more in the third to go ahead, 3-0.  Tomateros starter Zack Dodson intentionally walked Isaac Rodriguez to load the bases so he could face MLB vet Lew Ford, who poked a grounder into left field to score Sebastian Valle from third.  Culiacan ended Mochis' shutout bid in the top of the seventh, when reliever Fabian Williamson gave up a Salas homer to left, bringing the visitors to within two runs.  Then came the bottom of the seventh, when Juan Carlos Gamboa (solo), Eugenio Velez (solo), Soto (three-run) and Yosmany Guerra (solo) all homered as the Caneros bashed their way to a 10-1 advantage and the rout was on.  Culiacan did score a run in the eighth when Joey Meneses doubled and came in on Ramiro Pena's single, but Los Mochis put another four on the board to put the Tomateros away.  J.C. Linares stroked a bases-loaded triple to deliver the coup de grace.

The Caneros' 17-hit attack in front of another SRO home crowd of 11,372 should not obsure the standout work of Mochis starter Luis Niebla, who went to 2-0 in the postseason by tossing six innings of shutout ball, scattering five hits and a pair of walks.  Dodson took the loss for Culiacan to fall to 0-2 in the playoffs.  The former Pirates prospect didn't pitch badly (two earned runs in five entradas of work) and was spared from what came next.  The Caneros outscored Culiacan, 19-2, over two games in Los Mochis.


MEXICALI 16-21-0, Hermosillo 6-13-0

Mexicali sent eleven men to the plate in the third inning and put eight runs on the board to take a 9-0 lead and the hits just kept on coming the rest of the game as the Aguilas bombed Hermosillo, 16-6.

Naranjeros starter Travis Blackley was touched for a C.J. Retherford homer run in the bottom of the second as Mexicali took a 1-0 lead.  Blackley was chased in the third after allowing three runs on four hits in the third, including a two-out, two-run single from Xorge Carrrillo off the last pitch the ex-MLBer threw for the night.  Reliever Hector Galvan fared no better, eventually giving up a three-run double to Ramon Rios, who then came in on a Chris Roberson double for the final run of the inning. The toll?  Eight Mexicali runs on six hits, one walk, one hit bastman and two wild pitches.  From that point on, it was only a matter of time.

Mexicali put up three more runs in both the fourth (keyed by a Carrillo two-run double) and fifth (keyed by a Yordanys Linares two-run double) to go up 15-0 before Hermosillo showed their only sign of life by plating six runs in the sixth as Dodgers minor leaguer Julian Leon contributed a pinch-hit two-run homer, but it was academic by that point.  Linares went 4-for-6 for Mexicali while Carrillo had three hits and four RBIs.  Hector Velazquez got the win in his first start for the Aguilas, tossing five shutout innings before being roughed up for five runs in the Hermosillo sixth.  Maybe with a 15-run lead, he let up a little.  Blackley took the loss for his third defeat in as many playoff starts for the Naranjeros this winter.  A sellout crowd of 17,000 witness the onslaught in Mexicali.

In a circuit that historically has been known as a pitcher-friendly league, Thursday night's MexPac semis featured a combined 38 runs on 61 hits.

Navojoa clobbers Los Mochis, 10-0; holds one-game LMP lead

Shortstop Niko Vasquez went 4-for-4 with a homer and double while starter Zack Dodson pitched six innings of two-hit shutout ball to lead the Navojoa Mayos to a 10-0 thrashing of the Los Mochis Caneros Tuesday night in Mexican Pacific League play Tuesday night.  A gathering of 4,931 looked on at Navojoa's Estadio Manuel "Ciclon" Echeverria as the Mayos extended their second half record to 9-4, good enough for a one-game lead over 8-5 Mexicali in the LMP standings. The Caneros dropped to sixth with a 6-7 mark.

Vasquez spent five years in the Cardinals system and another three in the independent Frontier League before joining Laguna of the Mexican League this summer, batting .275 with 17 homers in 100 games for the Vaqueros.  He's gone 7-of-9 over the past two games for the Mayos to lift his MexPac average to .356 this winter.  Dodson, who went 31-45 in seven years as a Pirates farmhand before going 2-1 for Laredo of the independent American Association in 2016, raised his record for the Mayos to 4-3 after his third consecutive strong outing.  He's allowed two earned runs while striking out 16 in 18 innings.  Dodson had been traded to the Orioles last winter but was suspended for 100 games in 2016 after receiving the third drug-related sitdown of his career.

After a disastrous first half, during which they won just 9 of 35 games, Mazatlan has won 7 of 12 in the second stanza to pull into third place in the MexPac behind Navojoa and Mexicali.  Conversely, first-half champion Culiacan is in the cellar after losing 10 of 13 games.

Jalisco 3B Agustin Murillo has a .349 batting average to top both Hermosillo OF Chris Roberson and Los Mochis OF Leandro Castro by one point at the top of the hitting tables.  A Roberson teammate, Naranjeros third baseman Jose Amador, hasn't homered since November 24 but still leads the MexPac with 12 homers, ahead of Navojoa OF Quincy Latimore's nine dingers and Hermosillo 1B David Washington's eight.  Culiacan OF Joey Meneses leads in RBI's with 40, one ahead of Jose Amador, while fellow Tomateros OF Ronnie Mustelier is tops with 34 runs scored.

Navojoa's rookie sensastion, Cuban SS Randy Arozarena, has taken the lead with 15 stolen bases while Obregon OF Corey Wimberly is second with 14 swipes.  Arozarena, who signed with St. Louis for $1.25 million last year and led the Northern Mexican League with a .377 average and 42 steals for Tecate this summer, is hitting .331 for the Mayos.  Baseball America's Ben Badler says, "Based on his present ability, Arozarena should be ready for a High Class A assignment, although the Cardinals haven't yet said where he'll begin his career."  The 21-year-old Arozarena played short, second and center field for Pinar Del Rio in the Cuban National Series, batting .291 his last season in 2014-15 before defecting to Mexico.  His Mexican League rights are held by the Tijuana Toros.

Mexicali pitcher Javier Solano (7-3) won four straight starts between November 11 and 29 to take the LMP lead with seven wins. Navojoa's Hector Velazquez (6-2) was racked up in Jalisco for ten hits and six runs Saturday befor being yanked in the fifth, but he still has six wins (second in the loop), a 2.49 ERA (third) and 65 strikeouts (first) after ten starts.  Hermosillo's Juan Pablo Oramos (4-1) leads with a 1.88 ERA.  Mexicali closer Jake Sanchez is in the midst of a phenomenal season.  Sanchez, an A's farmhand who converted to relief with AA Midland last summer, has yet to allow an earned run in 19 one-inning appearances and leads the LMP with 12 saves.