Cuban Yurisbel Gracial hit his ninth home run in SoftBank's victory in Japanese league

May 31, 2019

The Cuban Yurisbel Gracial connected his ninth home run of the campaign this Wednesday, contributing to the victory of the SoftBank Falcons over the Orix Buffaloes in the Pacific zone of the Japanese Professional Baseball League.

As a visitor at the Kyocera Dome in Osaka, Gracial kept his bat hot, hitting the ball out of bounds with no runners in circulation, and going 4-2 in the game, as he also hit a double. The Caribbean outfielder raised his batting average to .359 and now displays 19 RBIs.

His compatriot Alfredo Despaigne connected a single in three at-bats, drove in one run, received two walks and struck out the same number of times, a performance that allowed him to raise his average to .283 and reach 32 runs batted in for the plate.

Also Cuban Liván Moinelo maintained his good work on the mound, allowing one hit without a run and striking out two rivals in an inning of work as a reliever, to lower his ERA to 0.43.

After this result, the SoftBank team of manager Kimiyasu Kudo occupies the first position in the Pacific League, with a record of 26 wins, 22 losses and two ties, giving them a half-game lead over the Rakuten Eagles.