Alfredo Despaigne is the hero of Fukuoka

September 17, 2020

Alfredo Despaigne maintains his good personal pace in the 2020 season of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). In the most recent outing, this Wednesday, he gave the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks a 5-4 victory over the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters despite getting only one hit in three official at-bats.

Despaigne, batting fifth in the order and playing left field, hit a key single in the seventh inning. He drove in two runners and produced the fourth and fifth runs, which ultimately meant the victory for his club. The Cuban slugger, who left his averages at .293/.370/.537, also received a walk.

THE DECISIVE HIT??? Well yes, to Alfredo Despaigne's account, who drove in the runs that broke the tie and gave the victory #CubanPride #CubansInJapan #Softbank https://t.co/RvK9b6POQw
— SwingCompleto LLC (@SwingCompletoBB) September 16, 2020

In his first 11 games of this regular season, the islander has 12 hits in 98 official at-bats. He also has one double and three home runs, with eight RBIs and four runs scored.

His offensive teammate on Fukuoka, Yurisbel Gracial, went hitless in five official opportunities, including a strikeout. His current struggling stretch at the plate has lowered his still impressive line to .280/.321/.540.

In the same game, Liván Moinelo recorded his 29th hold of the year. The left-handed islander had no problems in 1.0 inning of work, in which he allowed one walk but struck out one opponent. His ERA dropped to 1.27.

Finally, Dayán Viciedo got a hit. Although the Chunichi Dragons lost 9-2 to the Hiroshima Toyo Carp, the burly slugger reconnected with his offense and hit two hits in four official at-bats, including his 14th double of the season.

Viciedo, who left his averages at .274/.324/.460, had five consecutive games without even a hit, a stretch in which he accumulated 14 official at-bats without success. Now, in his last six games, he's hitting .111, the result of these two hits in 18 official opportunities, with two RBIs, the same number of runs scored, four walks and only one strikeout.

Finally in the Japanese circuit, Leonys Martín finished 4-1, with one strikeout, in the loss of the Chiba Lotte Marines 3-1 to the Saitama Seibu Lions. The outfielder's averages finished at .252/.389/.519.

As for the action in the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO), José Miguel Fernández finished 3-1, with one run scored and one walk received in the Doosan Bears' 5-3 loss to the NC Dinos. Fernández left his line at .360/.423/.525 after 108 games. He still maintains the batting title, with a nine-point lead over second place (.351).