The Guerreros (Warriors) de Oaxaca of the Mexican League won their season opener against the Pericos (Parakeets) de Puebla before 6,253 fans at Estadio Eduardo Vasconcelos in Oaxaca City.
Fans of AAA ball in the US would be right at home in Estadio Eduardo Vasconcelos, except for the Field Turf. Beer (Corona and Victoria) costs $1.60, and they even have vendors selling Domino's Pizza. (I had a “hamburguesa”, which came with cheese and avocado; it was pretty good.) There's the usual video screen in center field, and the washrooms are clean.
The dimensions are 410' in center field, and 350' down the left and right field lines. Don't think for a minute, however, that this is a pitchers' ballpark. A minute is about how long it took for the first batter of the game, DH Serafin Rodriguez of Los Pericos, to hit one of the longest home runs I've ever seen over the left-field billboards. Oaxaca City is 5,102' above sea level, and very dry, so think Denver.
After this rude start to the game, Guerreros left-handed starter Jorge Castillo settled down and struck out the next two batters. The Pericos got their second run in the third inning. 3B Alberto Carreon started the inning by reaching on a misplayed bunt (it was scored as a hit) and Castillo promptly picked him off. Rodriguez then hit a ground-rule double, then scored on a single by LF Luis Suarez. Suarez, however, tried to go to second, and was out by a good 30 feet, ending the inning.
The Guerreros got their first good scoring chance in the fourth inning. LF Yancarlo Angulo hit a double with one out, but the next batter, 2B Jaime Brena, was robbed of an RBI by 2B Valentin Gamez, who made a good snag of a line drive, then stepped on second for an unassisted double play.
The Guerreros scored all of their runs in the bottom of the fifth.C Erick Rodriguez got it started with an infield hit. He moved to second on a hit by SS Luis Figueroa, and the next batter, RF Christian Quintero drew a walk off Pericos starter Andres Meza to load the bases. Then DH Barbaro Canizares hit a two-RBI double. 1B Geronimo Gil hit a sacrifice fly for run number three, and 3B Sergio Gastelum hit an RBI double to complete the scoring. The Guerreros missed a change to get at least one more run when Angulo hit a ground ball to second, and Gamez made another very good play to get the out at first.
Castillo was relieved by Martin Sotelo in the sixth. The Pericos got their last scoring chance of the game when the second batter Sotelo faced, Ricardo Serrano, hit a triple. The next batter, Suarez, hit a popup that wasn't deep enough to score Serrano. The next batter, Jolbert Cabrera, hit a fly ball to deep center field that didn't go out.
The Pericos got one more hit the rest of the way, off Yoel Hernandez, who pitched the eighth inning, but Hernandez struck out the other three batters he faced. Gabriel Alfaro pitched a lights-out ninth inning, and got a save. Castillo got the win, and he allowed five hits and struck out six in the five innings he pitched. Meza, who allowed nine hits in six innings of work, got the loss.
Figueroa and Angulo went 2-for-4 for the Guerreros. Rodriguez went 2-for-4 for the Pericos.
Hernandez is from Venezuela, was in the Phillies organization 2005-2007. Alfaro is also from Venezuela, and played in the minor leagues in the US 2006-2006. Figueroa is Puerto Rican, was in the Pirates, Mets, and Brewers organizations from 1997 to 2004. He has been in the Blue Jays organization since 2005. He played in 14 major league games in 2006 and 2007. Angula was in the Padres organization.
Bob Broughton is currently doing Spanish immersion in Oaxaca