Ali Solis drove in three runs, Cristian Castillo put up solid five-inning work out of the bullpen that combined to shut out the scoreless door and the Sultanes de Monterrey defeated the Tecolotes de los Dos Laredos 5-1 this Tuesday, August 23 to be one win away from advancing to the North Zone Championship Series in the 2022 playoffs of the Mexican Baseball League (LMB).
The game held in front of 15,395 fans at the Mobil Super Stadium left the Monterrey with a 3-1 lead in the Zone Seriesone more victory away from returning to the final of the North Zone for the first time since the fall of 2018, a championship in which they won their most recent title also led by Panamanian Roberto Kelly.
Batting ninth and hitting just .182, Alí Solís is the leader of the Monterrey team in RBIs in these playoffs with eight RBIs.
Castillo was the winning pitcher with four hits, one run and three strikeouts. Then the bullpen performed the task with Juan Gámez, Wander Suero, Carlos Morales and Neftalí Feliz with a chapter blank each.
The four innings without a run thrown by the Monterrey bullpen put the Monterrey reliever as the one with the best ERA (2.01) so far in the playoffs, surpassing that of Dos Laredos (2.22).
The Tecolotes suffered their first road loss of the postseason after winning four games, three in Torreon and one in Monterrey. The losing pitcher was Junior Guerra, who led games won and ERA in some moments of the regular season making him a contender for Pitcher of the Year.
The Sultans took the lead scoring a pair of runs in the second inning after an error by opposing shortstop Roberto Valenzuela. With a full house and two outs, Alí Solís connected unstoppably to center field that drove in Orlando Calixte and Ramiro Peña.
The Tecos closed to 2-1 in the third inning when Luis Rodríguez hit a fly ball to right field that outfielder Sebastián Elizalde “missed” in the sky for a triple. Tito Valenzuela grounded out to third base and the runner took advantage of the throw to first to go home.
Monterrey increased the advantage by manufacturing a three-run cluster in the sixth inning.
With the houses full, José Augusto Figueroa hit a grounder to second base to drive in the first run; Ali Solís with a hit drove in the second, and Gustavo Núñez’s sacrifice fly added the third.
The series will continue this Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. with Venezuelan left-hander Yohander Méndez pitching for the Sultans against Brandon Brennan.
Tags: LMB Playoffs Tecos Sultanes Result Game #4Seventh Inning
