Mexican Matchups: Games of 12/13

A pair of extra-inning games.  The bunt was key in Mazatlan.  A comeback in Culiacan.

GUASAVE 3, MAZATLAN 1 IN MAZATLAN (10 INNINGS)

Guasave:  Jesus Cota was 1-for-3 with a walk and a home run, his fifth.  Leonardo Heras was 2-for-3 with a walk.  Juan Delgadillo pitched seven innings, giving up one run on four hits and one walk with two strikeouts.

Mazatlan:  Curt Smith was 2-for-3 with a walk and a triple.  Blake Gailen was 1-for-4 with a home run, his seventh.  Alejandro Martinez struck out seven in seven shutout innings, allowing two hits and four walks.

The game:  Gailen homered in the second to give Mazatlan a 1-0 lead.  It held up until the eighth, when Cota led off with a homer to tie it.  Guasave scored a pair of unearned runs in the tenth on a single, two errors, and a sacrifice fly.  Both errors were on pitcher Jose Sanchez as he tried to field bunts.  Mazatlan went down in order in the bottom of the tenth.

OBREGON 4, MEXICALI 2 IN OBREGON

Mexicali:  Chris Roberson was 2-for-4 with a home run, his eleventh.  Brad Snyder was 1-for-4 with a home run, his third.

Obregon:  Robert Saucedo was 3-for-4 with a run and two RBIs.  Dan Robertson (San Diego) was 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI.  Marco Carrillo pitched five innings, allowing two runs on six hits and two walks with two strikeouts.

The game:  Roberson led off the game with a homer to give Mexicali a 1-0 lead.  Obregon came back with three in the bottom of the first, with Saucedo driving in two with a single and Carlos Valencia delivering an RBI single.  Robertson drove in a run in the second to make it 4-1.  Snyder homered in the sixth to make it 4-2,  but that was as close as Mexicali would come, as their last seven batters went out.

HERMOSILLO 6, CULIACAN 3 IN CULIACAN (11 INNINGS)

Hermosillo:  Stefan Gartrell was 2-for-5 with a double and a two-run homer.  Jose Aguilar was 3-for-5 with a double and three RBIs.  Demetrio Gutierrez pitched 3.1 scoreless innings, giving up one hit and no walks.

Culiacan:  Ali Solis (Tampa Bay) was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his sixth.  Karim Garcia was 1-for-5 with a home run, his second.  Andres Meza pitched six innings, allowing one run on ten hits and no walks with three strikeouts.

The game:  Garcia homered in the second and Solis hit a two-run shot in the third to make it 3-0 Culiacan.  It was 3-1 after eight, but Gartrell hit a two-run homer in the ninth to tie the score.  In the eleventh, Aguilar hit a two-out three-run double to give Hermosillo what turned out to be the winning runs.  Culiacan did not get a man on base in the bottom of the inning.

NAVOJOA 9, LOS MOCHIS 4 IN NAVOJOA

Los Mochis:  Gilberto Mejia was 1-for-4 with a double and a run.  Ramon Orantes was 1-for-4 with two RBIs.

Navojoa:  Rolando Acosta was 3-for-4 with a two-run homer, his sixth.  Wes Bankston was 2-for-4 with a double, scoring once and driving in two.  Zech Zinicola pitched two perfect innings with one strikeout.

The game:  Luis Fonseca hit an RBI double, a run scored on a ground out, and Fernando Flores delivered a run-scoring single to give Navojoa a 3-0 first inning lead.  A pair of RBI ground outs in the third cut the lead to 3-2, but Navojoa got four in the fourth to take control.  Jon Weber had a two-run double in the inning.  Los Mochis got two in the fifth to cut it to 7-4 and had the tying run on base, but got no closer.  Acosta hit a two-run homer in the seventh to put the game out of reach.