Ariel Martínez, Cuban bats make their presence felt in Japanese baseball

April 14, 2021

A fruitful day was had by the bats wielded by Cuban ballplayers who perform in the Japanese professional baseball league, hitting five hits in 13 times at bat.

The Matanzas native Ariel Martínez hit his first home run of the campaign in three opportunities and drove in the only run for his team, in the 1-5 loss of the Chunichi Dragons to the Yomiuri Giants in the Central Zone.

At the Tokyo Dome, the Caribbean slugger, who played only his second game of the year, raised his average to .167 and recorded his first RBI. Meanwhile, at the Pay Pay Dome in Fukuoka, fellow Yomiuri player Yurisbel Gracial went 4-2, with a double, single, one run scored and one strikeout, in the 4-1 victory of the SoftBank Hawks over the Orix Buffaloes. His average rose to .295.

His teammate, the Granma native Alfredo Despaigne, got a hit in three at-bats, drew a walk and scored twice to improve his average to .213.

The SoftBank Hawks, which compete in the Pacific League, have won the last four Japan series, and Cuban ballplayers are once again key to their effort to sign the fifth successive title.

And the Villa Clara outfielder Leonys Martín, one of the Cubans who perform in the Japanese league without a contract, with sponsorship from the National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation (Inder), went 3-1 today, with a single, one run scored, one strikeout and one walk, in a 2-2 tie in nine innings between the Lotte Marines and the Rakuten Eagles at Rakuten Seimei Park in Sendai. His average rose to .267.