After falling in the first game of the Mexican Winter League playoffs on Wednesday to former Cincinnati Reds outfielder Dave Sappelt and Culiacan, the Charros de Jalisco stormed back to win Game 2 of the series and tie things up in the best of seven series.
With the game sitting at 3-0 in the seventh inning Marquez Smith came up to the plate with a runner on and put the game out of reach with a 2-run homer, capping off a 2-4 night. In 12 playoff games that puts Smith’s line at .325/.404/.575 with nine runs batted in, six walks and eight strikeouts. The two teams are off today before getting back in action on Saturday night.
Smith re-signed with the Reds after testing the free agent market after the 2014 season. He’s spent the last two years just beating up on the California League with just a small taste of Double-A Pensacola. In 2013 he got a promotion to Pensacola at the mid-season but he went down with an injury three weeks later and missed the rest of the season. The 2014 season saw a brief call up to Double-A that lasted just over two weeks where he was used mostly as a pinch hitter.
With the Reds moving their Advanced-A team to Daytona, at worst, Smith will find a new place to play. With the amount of success he’s had in the last two years at the level, and his past success before joining the Reds organization above the level, hopefully Smith will finally get a chance to play full time at the Double-A level in 2015.