Tijuana swings for fences, shuts out Bay County
When you win your zone championship in April and have to wait until August to play in the world series, why be patient and work deep into counts? You’ve waited long enough to swing for the fences, right?
Tijuana, Mexico took an aggressive approach at the plate and used two home runs, including a grand slam, by first baseman Romeo Briones to overpower Bay County, Mich., 13-0 in five innings, in the opening game Saturday afternoon at the Pony League World Series.
Briones hit a grand slam in Tijuana’s five-run second inning and a solo shot in the fifth. He went 3-for-3 with five RBI.
After being retired in order in the top of the first inning by Bay County starter Jayden Perkins, Tijuana took an aggressive approach in the second. Briones drew a leadoff walk and then the Mexico Zone champions started swinging at the first pitch of every at-bat with remarkable success.
Marlon Melendez doubled down the left-field line and Alexander Jimenez hit a sacrifice fly that send home Briones with the game’s first run.
Oliver Gutierrez followed with an RBI single, Xavier Sanchez hit a hard single past the Bay County third baseman and Eymos Betancourt, the No. 9 hitter in the Tijuana lineup, doubled off the wall in left centerfield, driving in a run.
“We were trying to attack the wall. That was our strategy,” Tijuana manager Jose Estrada said with the help of a translator.
Bryan Espinoza added an RBI single before the inning would end, and an error allowed the fifth Tijuna run to cross home plate.
That was all the offense Jimenez, the Tijuana starting pitcher, and reliever Carlos Pardo needed. They combined on a two-hit shutout. Each pitcher struck out four. What was most import for Tijuana is that Jimenez threw only 46 pitches and three innings.
“We were not going to let him throw 65 pitches,” Estrada said. “This gives us even more pitching for the next game. Of our 14 players, 10 are pitchers.”
Tijuana will not play until Monday night (7:30 p.m.) when it faces either Washington County, Bronx, N.Y. or Gijon, Spain.
Tijuana pushed its lead to 6-0 in the third when Briones led off with a single and scored on a hit by Gutierrez.
In the fourth, singles by Emiliano Contreras and Espinoza along with a walk to Xavier Beltran loaded the bases with no outs. Briones then hit a grand slam over the scoreboard beyond right field that made it 10-0. It was the 49th grand slam in world series history and the third by a player from Mexico.
Jimenez and Gutierrez added RBI doubles in the inning that ended with Tijuana up 12-0.
The final run scored when Briones smacked his second home run, a line-drive shot to right centerfield with two outs in the fifth.
“He always shows what he’s capable of,” Estrada said of Briones. “He’s a hard worker.”
Bay County, which is appearing in the world series for the 12th consecutive time as the North Zone champion, was limited to singles by Aaron Kain and Chandler Bingham.
Bay County will play an elimination game Sunday (5 p.m.).