Mexican Matchups: Games of 12/30

Valle leads Los Mochis to the mountaintop.  Missed opportunities cost Hermosillo.

LOS MOCHIS 3, CULIACAN 2 IN LOS MOCHIS

Twins:  Brad Boyer (Culiacan) was 1-for-5.

Culiacan:  Luis Alfonso Cruz was 1-for-3 with a double and a run.  Donell Linares was 1-for-4 with an RBI.  Jorge Reyes (San Diego) pitched two shutout innings, giving up no hits and one walk.

Los Mochis:  Sebastian Valle (Philadelphia) was 2-for-3 with a triple and a home run, driving in three.  Emmanuel Avila was 1-for-3 with a run.  Abraham Rivera struck out four in four innings, allowing two unearned runs on three hits and two walks.

The game:  Each team scored once in the second.  Culiacan took the lead in the third on Linares' RBI single.  The lead held up until the eighth, when Valle hit a two-run triple with one out to put Los Mochis ahead.  Culiacan got a leadoff single in the ninth and advanced the runner to second, but could do no more.

MAZATLAN 2, HERMOSILLO 0 IN HERMOSILLO

Mazatlan:  Ivan Terrazas was 2-for-4 with an RBI.  Erick Rodriguez was 1-for-3 with a double and a run.  Julio Montoya pitched three shutout innings, allowing one hit and no walks with one strikeout.

Hermosillo:  Edgar Quintero was 2-for-4 with two doubles.  Jerry Owens was 2-for-4.  Jose Samayoa (Texas) pitched four innings, allowing one run on two hits with two strikeouts.

The game:  Mazatlan scored in the first on a ground out.  It stayed 1-0 until the fifth, when Terrazas singled in a run.  Hermosillo loaded the bases in the first with two out, got a man on second with none out in the second, got a runner thrown out trying to score from second on a single with two out in the seventh, and put men on first and second with two out in the eighth and ninth.

NAVOJOA 6, OBREGON 4 IN OBREGON

Navojoa:  Jon Weber was 3-for-5 with a home run (his second) and two RBIs.  Alejandro Gonzalez was 2-for-3 with a two-run homer.  Alejandro Soto struck out seven in seven shutout innings, giving up three hits and two walks.

Obregon:  Carlos Valencia was 1-for-4 with a run and an RBI.  Jose Augusto Figueroa (Yankees) was 1-for-4 with a run and an RBI.  Arturo Lopez struck out two in two shutout innings, allowing two hits and no walks.

The game:  Navojoa scored one in the fifth on an RBI single by Jose Guadalupe Chavez, one in the sixth on a sacrifice fly, and one in the seventh on Weber's single.  They scored three in the ninth on a two-run homer by Gonzalez and a solo shot by Weber, and appeared to have a comfortable lead.  In the bottom of the ninth, however, RBI singles by Valencia and Figueroa and a two-run wild pitch cut the lead to 6-4.  They had the tying run up to bat with two out, but could not score any more.

GUASAVE 12, MEXICALI 4 IN GUASAVE

Mexicali:  Oscar Robles was 2-for-3 with a two-run homer, his fourth.  Ben Guez (Detroit) was 2-for-4 with two doubles, scoring once and driving in one.  Gil Velazquez was 1-for-4 with a double, scoring once and driving in one.

Guasave:  Jose Manuel Rodriguez was 2-for-4 with a walk, a double, and a home run (his tenth), scoring four times and driving in two.  Zelous Wheeler (Yankees) was 2-for-4 with a walk and a home run (his eleventh), scoring twice and driving in three.  Adrian C. Ramirez struck out two in two perfect innings.

The game:  Wheeler hit a two-run homer in the first to put Guasave ahead 2-0.  Guasave scored two more in the second, one scoring on a Leonardo Heras (Houston) double and the other on a wild pitch.  It stayed 4-0 until the fifth, when Robles hit a two-run homer to cut the lead to 4-2.  It was still a two-run lead, at 5-3, when Guasave scored two in the sixth on a two-run homer by Baltazar Lopez to take control of the game.  They added three in the seventh and two in the eighth, with Mexicali adding its final run in the ninth.