5 W’s — From What to Why: Águilas de Mexicali advance to LMP championship
Daily article discussing one of the most important events from the previous day of baseball. The 5 W’s will be discussed, concluding with the why — as in why is it important.
What?
The Águilas de Mexicali defeated the Naranjeros de Hermosillo 4–3 in Game 7 of the semifinal. They advance to the Liga Mexicana del Pacífico championship (Mexican Winter League) to face the Cañeros de Los Mochis. The game lasted 16 innings, finishing in just over six hours.
Who?
Águilas starter Kameron Loe (who last pitched in the major leagues in 2013) lasted 0.1 innings, allowing five singles on two runs. Mexicali’s bullpen came up clutch, using seven different relievers and allowing just one run for the next 15.2 innings. Though Edgar Osuna relieved Loe and escaped a first inning bases loaded jam unscathed, the hero of the day was closer Jake Sanchez. After leading the league in saves (21), he went 7.1 shutout innings (spanning from the 7th to the 15th innings), allowing two hits, two walks, and 11 strikeouts. Starting pitcher Javier Solano entered in the 15th and threw a clean 1.1 innings to secure the win.
When?
The game began at 7:30 Pacific Time on January 19th, and ended at 1:31 on January 20th, 2017.
Where?
Estadio B-Air in Mexicali, Baja California.
Why?
Much has been made of the use of bullpens in the postseason, especially with the dominance of Andrew Miller for the Cleveland Indians. However, you’d be hard pressed to find a comparable example to Sanchez’ 7.1 inning relief appearance.
After pitching just 31.2 innings over 30 appearances in the regular season, his 116 pitch outing in Game 7 was easily his longest in a while. He started for the Midland Rockhounds (Oakland A’s Double-A affiliate) in 2015, going 10–8 with a 4.50 ERA.
As a 25-year-old who was still less than impressive at Double-A, he was moved to the bullpen in 2016 and saw his ERA drop to 3.10, with his WHIP dropping from 1.500 to 1.155.
While Sanchez’ dominance of LMP competition will prove to be valuable for Mexicali as they advance to the championship (he allowed just one earned run in those 31.2 regular season innings), his background as a starter will come in handy if he needs to get more than the typical “three-out save”.
Additional: With Game 1 of the LMP championship to be played tomorrow en Los Mochis, Sinaloa, the Reinforcement Draft will take place today. For details about the Reinforcement Draft (as well as what the first round would’ve looked like for the the 2016 MLB postseason, read here).
