Ariel Martínez connects double and home run in Japanese baseball league

September 4, 2024

Matanzas native Ariel Martínez connected for a double and home run to help his Nippon Ham Fighters to a 6-3 victory against the SoftBank Hawks in Japan's Professional Baseball League.

Before more than 40 thousand fans gathered at the Pay Pay Dome in Fukuoka, Martínez made the ball disappear off his compatriot Liván Moinelo, the league's most effective pitcher who is in pursuit of the pitching triple crown.

The Yumuri slugger reached 12 home runs in the season and came within three of tying his personal record in those lands, achieved last year.

With this performance, the masked infielder, who also plays in the outfield, reached 52 runs batted in and has accumulated 81 hits in 342 official plate appearances for an offensive average of .237, fifth among Latin players in the Pacific League.

Moinelo for his part, allowed six runs in just three innings of work and signed his worst outing so far in the contest, after having exercised total dominance in his previous appearances.

The left-handed pitcher from Pinar del Río, used this season as a starter for the first time in his career, is the leader in earned run average (1.97), second in wins (10) and third in strikeouts (137) with the three he recorded on this day.

His Hawks are leading the Pacific with 74 wins, 42 losses and three ties, followed by Martínez's Fighters with a record of 62-50 and 11 draws.

The two athletes will be key pieces for Cuba in the upcoming Premier 12 tournament that will begin in November, where the best-ranked teams from the planet will be gathered, according to the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC).