Merida, Yucatan — Pitcher Jonas Garibay had a dream Mexican League debut while Xavier Scruggs and Leo Heras each homered to give the Leones a fifth consecutive series win.
The Leones emerged victorious 7-3 over the Generales de Durango Sunday at Kukulcan Alamo Park.
The Leones got on board in the fourth when Heras (12) hit a two-run homer, scoring Luis Juarez for a 2-1 lead.
Durango answered in the next half-inning when Daniel Mayora hit a two-run single to grab a one-run lead.
Scruggs’ fourth homer of the week produced a tie in the sixth, and singles by Jonathan Jones boosted the lead in the seventh.
The final runs in the eighth by Scruggs, Heras and Humberto Sosa sealed the victory.
Miguel Pena, Ronald Belisario, Andres Avila and Josh Lueke pitched in relief with Belisario (3-5) earning the win with a scoreless inning while Isaac Jimenez (1-2) took the loss.
Garibay, 19, started the game to dominate the Generales for five innings, where he allowed six hits and two runs, striking out seven.
The first run scored against Garibay was unearned because of an error by Art Charles at first base. Charles later apologized to Garibay for the blunder.
“I’m very excited to get here, it’s a dream come true and what I worked for a long time,” said the 6-foot-4 rookie, whose father Salvador Garibay pitched and served as coach for the same team until 2007. “Now I want to keep doing things right to stay at a high level and help the team.”
With the win, Yucatan improved to 4-2 against Durango this season and has a 36-37 season record.
The Leones hit the road, first to Laguna for three games starting Tuesday, and then to Saltillo for another series. They return to Merida on July 16 to face Saltillo again.
| TEAM |
| 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 4 | 5 | 6 |
| 7 | 8 | 9 |
| R | H | E |
| DGO |
| 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | 9 | 1 |
| YUC |
| 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | 0 | 1 |
| 1 | 3 | X |
| 7 | 10 | 1 |
PG: Belisario (3-5)
PD: Jiménez (1-2)
SV: None
HR: Heras (12), Scruggs (4) for YUC
Sources: Leones, Associated Press
