CULIACÁN, SINALOA. The Guinda offense erupted once again, powering the Tomateros de Culiacán to a 14-5 victory over the Venados de Mazatlán to secure the rivalry series at Estadio Tomateros.
Although the visitors jumped out to an early lead in the opening frame, Tomateros answered right back in the bottom of the first. Orlando Martínez lined an RBI single to center field to plate Joey Meneses and trim the deficit to 2-1.
The Guinda squad flipped the script in the bottom of the third with a five-run rally. Following a walk to Orlando Martínez and a single by Jon Singleton, Luis Roberto Verdugo launched a three-run home run deep over the left-field wall to put the home side ahead 4-3. The surge didn't stop there, as JP Martínez came through with an RBI single to bring home Luis Roberto Verdugo and stretch the lead to 7-3.
Culiacán kept pouring it on in the seventh inning. Ichiro Cano and Fernando Flores hit back-to-back singles before JP Martínez doubled to score Ichiro for the eighth run. Later in the frame, Joey Meneses drove in two more with a single to left field, pushing the Culichi advantage to 10-5.
Fernando Flores put the exclamation point on the night, belting a grand slam over the right-field fence to lock in the final 14-5 score.
Right-hander Luis Cessa earned the victory on the mound, tossing five complete innings to pick up his third win of the campaign.
The bullpen also delivered, as Axel Sauceda and David Gutiérrez each threw a scoreless inning to completely silence the visiting bats.
Tomorrow brings the finale of the Clásico Sinaloense. With the series already secured, Tomateros will look to break out the brooms and complete their first sweep of the season.