Piratas Take Game 2 With Leones 3-1

EVEN SERIES AT 1-1

The Piratas de Campeche scored twice in the 1st inning and used excellent pitching to defeat the Leones de Yucatan 3-1 in the second game of the Zona Sur divisional playoffs.

Jorge Castillo / Leones Facebook

Jorge Castillo, who earned the win, and 3 relievers allowed the Leones 5 hits and 1 run over 7 1/3 innings before turning the game over to their closer Fernando Nieve. Nieve picked up his second save of the playoffs, shutting down the Leones over the final 1 2/3 innings

Marco Quevedo, the Leones starter, gave up 4 hits and 2 runs, walked 1 and struck out 4 in the loss.

Marco Quevedo / Leones Facebook

Carlos Colmenares drew a lead off walk to start the game for Campeche. A pick off attempt by Quevedo went wide of first and Colmenares wound up on third base. Ronny Paulino singled to drive in Colmenares and Paulino scored on a double by CJ Retherford. The Piratas had the early 2-0 lead.

Both pitching staffs were in control until the 7th inning. Fernando Flores doubled to left with two outs in the top of the 7th and scored on a single to left by Paul Leon to stretch the Piratas lead 3-0.

Yucatan got a run back in their half of the 7th. Jesus Valdez and Hector Gimenez both walked. Luis Garcia hit a ground ball to third that forced Valdez for the first out. Ricardo Serrano doubled to right to score Gimenez to cut the lead to 3-1 but the Leones would score no more as the Piratas won by that final score.

Both teams travel to Campeche today and will continue the best of seven series on Friday the 21st of August.

IN OTHER LMB PLAYOFF ACTION

Mexico 10, Tijuana 5

Cyle Hankerd after 1 of 2
home runs on the night
diablos Facebook

Cyle Hankerd powered the Diablos to victory on Wednesday, going 2 for 3 at the plate with 2 home runs and 6 RBIs. He also had a walk and scored 2 runs. Ivan Terrazas, the star on the first game of this series, continued his hot hitting with a 3 for 4 night to raise his average for the playoffs to .714. Terrazas drove in a run and scored twice in the Diablos 10-5 win over the Toros.

Steven Hensley picked up the win in relief for Mexico while Logan Duran, the Tijuana starter, gave up 6 runs on 5 hits in 2 innings on the mound to take the loss. The Toros pitchers walked 5 batters and 3 of them scored.

Enrique Trujillo was 3 for 3 at the plate for Tijuana with a run scored. Dustin Martin was 2 for 5 and Miguel Olivo went 1 for 4 with a solo home run.

The Diablos take a 2-0 lead into the travel day and will continue the series in Tijuana on Friday.

Monclova 1, Saltillo 0

Jose Oyervides allowed just 1 hit, walked 1 and struck out 9 Saraperos over 8 innings to get the win for the Acereros. Angel Ramirez pitched to one batter in the top of the 9th and Juan Noriega got the final 2 outs to record the save.

The Acereros are 2-0 in the divisional playoff series with Saltillo. The series now shifts to Saltillo for 3 games (if necessary) beginning on Friday the 21st of August.

The Saltillo pitchers matched the Monclova pitchers pitch for pitch except for the 4th inning. Olmo Rosario drew a one out walk for the Acereros and Brett Harper followed with a single. Jose Amador drew a base on balls to load the bases with one out. Jose Ruiz hit a grounder to first that scored Rosario with the only run of the game and the Monclova win.

Oaxaca 7, Quintana Roo 2

The Tigres dropped to 0-2 in the Zona Sur playoffs against the Guerreros with the 7-2 loss at home. Oaxaca took both games in Cancun, outscoring the Tigres 15-2 in the process. The Tigres are the #2 seed and the Guerreros the #3 seed in the Sur playoffs.

The series now moves to Oaxaca where the Guerreros have a chance to take the series in front of the home crowd.

Irwin Delgado
Guerreros Facebook

Irwin Delgado picked up the win for Oaxaca, going 5 innings, allowing 4 hits and a run while striking out 5 Tigres. Manny Corpas pitched his way into a save situation in the 9th before getting credit for the save. Pablo Ortega was roughed up for 5 runs on 6 hits in 3 2/3 innings to take the loss.

Yancarlo Angulo was 2 for 5 with a home run and 3 RBIs while Alan Sanchez went 3 for 5 with 2 RBIs and Jaime Brena was 1 for 3 with 2 RBIs for the Guerreros.

Alan Sanchez
Guerreros Fcebook

Greg Goson and Alfredo Almezaga were 2 for 4 and Carlos Gastelum 2 for 5 with a run scored for the Tigres. Eugenio Velez and Jorge Vasquez drove in the runs for Quintana Roo.

Giants Swat 'Nats with 3-2 Win To Advance to NLCS

The San Francisco Giants are moving on to face the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2014 NLCS Series. The winning run in last night's game, that gave the Giants the series win against the Nationals 3-2, scored on a wild pitch. Fitting that the wild card Giants advance on a wild pitch.

As a result of that pitch, thrown by rookie Aaron Barrett, the Giants start their quest for another even-year World Series win. They became the fourth team in MLB postseason history to win a post season series game on a wild pitch. The '27 Yankees, '72 Reds and the '04 Yankees were the other teams to accomplish this. Only the '27 Yankees won the World Series.

Giants pitchers held the Nationals hitters not named Anthony Rendon or Bryce Harper, to a paltry .113 batting average with just 14 hits in 123 at bats. Harper, by the way, joins Miguel Cabrera as the only players to hit 3 playoff series home runs before the age of 22.

Although the final score was 3-2, the Giants could have, and should have, scored more runs. They left 10 men on base and had the bases loaded twice with one out and failed to score.

The Giants scored the first runs of the game in the bottom of the second. With one out, Brandon Crawford singled. Juan Perez followed with a hard hit ball back to the pitcher that Gio Gonzalez misplayed for an error. Ryan Vogelsong then laid down a bunt toward third that Gonzalez overran and Anthony Rendon couldn't get to. Gonzalez walked Gregor Blanco to force in Crawford and Perez scored when Joe Panik hit a slow roller to first.

The Nationals scored a run in the 5th on a single by Ian Desmond and a double by Bryce Harper to narrow the gap to 2-1.

San Francisco loaded the bases again in the bottom of the 5th when, with runners on 1st and 3rd, Hunter Pence hit a ground ball to first. Adam Laroche fielded the ball and threw home in an attempt to cut down the runner from third. But, Gregor Blanco had taken two or three steps towards home and retreated to third. All runners were safe. Fortunately for the Nationals, Pablo Sandoval popped up to first and Brandon Belt struck out to end the inning with no damage.

Bryce Harper launched 3-1 pitch for a home run to right off of Hunter Strickland in the top of the 7th that landed in McCovey Cove and tied the score at two all. Wilson Ramos followed with a single but the Nationals would not score again.

The bottom of the 7th was a wild one. With one out, Joe Panik singled. Buster Posey, who would hit .389 for the series, singled and Hunter Pence worked an 8 pitch walk to load the bases. Aaron Barrett, in relief of Matt Thornton, uncorked a wild pitch to Pablo Sandoval that scored Panik. With a 3-1 count to Sandoval, the Nationals decided to walk him. The pitch went over the head of catcher Wilson Ramos but Posey was out at the plate. Giants manager, Bruce Bochy, challenged the play claiming Barrett blocked the plate. The call on the field was upheld and after Brandon Belt flew out to left the inning was over.

The Nationals would threaten no more and the Giants won the game 3-2 and the NLDS Series 3 games to 1.

San Francisco will travel to St. Louis on Saturday the 11th of October to take on the Cardinals in the 2014 NLCS, with the winner of that series taking on the winner of the Royals/Orioles ALCS Championship in the 2014 World Series.

Here are the top 10 videos of the NLDS final games from Gordon Dixon at Larry Brown sports.

Giants Beat Nationals 2-1 in 18 Innings

The San Francisco Giants and the Washington Nationals played an 18 inning game last night that lasted for 6 hours and 23 minutes. It was the longest game in MLB Playoff history by time and tied the record for the longest game by innings played.

The Houston Astros and the Atlanta Braves played an 18 inning affair in the 2005 NLDS that the Astros would win 5-4 on a walkoff home run by Chris Burke. Roger Clemens picked up the win in relief in that game.

Tim Hudson started both of those games, for the Braves in 2005 and for the Giants in 2014. Adam LaRoche, of the Nationals played first base in both of those games.

Wilson Ramos, Nationals, and Buster Posey, Giants, each caught the entire 18 inning game. Tanner Roark, losing pitcher for the Nationals, was 27 when he gave up the home run to Brandon Belt in the top of the 18th but turned 28 before the Nationals would lose the game.

The Nationals 3 through 6 hitters, Jason Werth, Adam Laroche, Ian Desmond and Bryce Harper were 2 for 28 with 9 Ks. The Giants 3 through 6 hitters, Buster Posey, Pablo Sandoval, Hunter Pence and Brandon Belt were 7 for 27 with 2 RBIs and 7 Ks.

Read the full ESPN story here