CULIACAN 6, MAZATLAN 4 IN CULIACAN

Batting stars:  Anthony Giansanti was 3-for-4 with a three-run homer and a walk.  Carlos Munoz was 2-for-3 with two walks.  Diego Madero was 2-for-4.

Pitching star:  Marco Antonio Duarte pitched 2.2 scoreless innings, giving up two hits.

Opposition stars:  Edgar Arredondo struck out eight in six innings, giving up one run on six hits and two walks.  Hans Wilson was 3-for-3.  Sebastian Elizelde was 2-for-4 with a home run and two RBIs.  Michael Wing was 2-for-4 with a double.  Joey Meneses was 1-for-3 with a home run and two RBIs.  Sasagi Sanchez pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a hit and striking out one.  Alberto Baldonado pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.

The game:  Mazatlan left the bases loaded in the first.  It cost them, as Culiacan got on the board in the bottom of the first with two runs.  Jesus Fabela, Ramiro Pena, and Elizalde all singled to start the inning, plating one run, and a sacrifice fly made it 2-0 Culiacan.  Mazatlan tallied in the top of the second when Jose Luna was hit by a pitch and scored on a Francisco Hernandez triple, but Culiacan got the run right back in the bottom of the second on singles by Alan Sanchez and Wilson and an infield out.  It was 3-1 Culiacan through two.

It went to 4-1 in the fourth when Michael Wing doubled and scored on Wilson's single.  But Mazatlan came back in the seventh.  With one out, Munoz walked, Ricky Alvarez singled, and Giansanti hit a three-run homer to tie it 4-4.

That was as good as it got for Mazatlan, though.  Elizalde and Meneses opened the eighth with back-to-back home runs, putting Culiacan up 6-4, and that's how it ended.  Mazatlan got a two-out single in the ninth, but nothing more.

WP:  Sagasi Sanchez (1-0).  LP:  Roman Pena (0-1).  S:  Baldonado (1).

Notes:  Munoz was batting .333.  Ricardo Valenzuela was 1-for-5 and was batting .321.  Giansanti was batting .306.

Carlos Felix started for Mazatlan but lasted just 3.1 innings, allowing four runs on six hits and no walks and striking out one.

Duarte has an ERA of zero.  Roberto Espinoza retired both men he faced and has an ERA of 2.45.

"Hans Wilson" seems like an odd name for a Mexican ballplayer to have, but he apparently was born in Obregon.  I don't know anything else about him, so I don't know if there's an interesting story there or not.

Record:  Mazatlan was 4-6.

MAZATLAN 12, CULIACAN 6 IN CULIACAN

Batting stars:  Jose Luna was 3-for-5 with a double.  Chris Roberson was 2-for-4 with a double.  Ricardo Valenzuela was 2-for-5 with a home run, two runs, and three RBIs.  Carlos Munoz was 2-for-5 with a double and two RBIs.  Ricky Alvarez was 2-for-5 with two runs.  Italo Mota was 1-for-4 with a three-run homer.

Pitching stars:  Marco Antonio Rivas pitched a perfect inning.  Adolfo Ramirez pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a hit and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Joey Meneses was 3-for-3 with a two-run homer (his second) and two walks.  Jesus Fabela was 3-for-5 with two runs.  Alfredo Hurtado was 2-for-2 with a double.  Antonio Lamas was 2-for-4.  Gonzalo Sanudo pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a walk.  Omar Sainz retired all four men he faced, striking out one.  Daniel Rodriguez pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a hit and a walk.

The game:  Randy Romero opened the game with a walk, went to second on a passed ball, and scored on Munoz' double.  Anthony Giansanti later contributed an RBI single to put Mazatlan up 2-0.  Culiacan came right back in the bottom of the first, though.  Fabela and Ramiro Pena singled, an error scored a run, a walk loaded the bases, a sacrifice fly tied the score, and a wild pitch put Culiacan up 3-2 after one.

The second was scoreless, but Mazatlan took control in the third.  Romero, Roberson, and Munoz all singled, tying the score.  The next two batters went out, but Valenzuela singled to put Mazatlan ahead.  A wild pitch scored a run, Luna had an RBI single, and Mota hit a three-run homer, making the score 9-3 Mazatlan.

Culiacan did not get back into the game.  They scored once in the fifth on an RBI single by Sebastian Elizalde, but Mazatlan got two in the seventh on Valenzuela's two-run homer, making the score 11-4.  Culiacan got those two back on Meneses' two-run homer, but that was as close as they would come.  Mazatlan added a run in the ninth on two singles and two ground outs.

WP:  Carlos Morales (1-0).  LP:  Jose Carlos Medina (0-1).  S:  None.

Notes:  Jose Augusto Figueroa is 1-for-1 and is batting .500.  Luna is batting .417.  Munoz is batting .342.  Valenzuela is batting .333.  Giansanti is batting .308.  Mota is batting .300.

Morales was the starter for Mazatlan.  He pitched 5.2 innings, giving up four runs (three earned) on eight hits and a walk and striking out four.

Gabino Avalos retired both men he faced and has an ERA of zero.

Medina started for Culiacan and pitched just two innings.  He allowed five runs on six hits and a walk and struck out two.

There were two wild pitches and two passed balls in the game.

Gonzalo Sanudo is an ex-Twin.  He was with them in the Gulf Coast League in 2011 and 2012, then was traded to Houston.  He was in the Astros organization through 2016, reaching AAA for two games in 2015.

Record:  Mazatlan is 5-6, in sixth place, four games behind Obregon.

Next game:  Mazatlan hosts Obregon Tuesday.