Pitcher Liván Moinelo gets another inning without runs

September 4, 2020

The stellar left-handed pitcher from Pinar del Río, Liván Moinelo, continues to have a great season in Japan's Professional Baseball League, after achieving another scoreless inning this Thursday in the second most competitive tournament in this sport at the world level.

His team, the Softbank Hawks, secured a tight 5-4 victory against the Orix Buffaloes, which took place at the Kyocera Dome stadium in the city of Osaka.

The fast and lanky left-hander allowed one hit, gave up one walk and struck out two batters in the inning worked, with which he lowered his ERA to 1.36, according to Jit.

In this way, the representative of the Greater Antilles solidifies even further his performance in the season, in which he has accumulated 34 appearances, one win, one loss and one save; 27 hold points, 61 strikeouts and only five earned runs allowed, numbers that place him among the relief pitchers with the best performance in that league.

In that same game, the player from Matanzas Yurisbel Gracial had a 4-1 performance at bat, registering one hit and striking out twice, so his average dropped to .321, which in no way detracts from the excellent season he is developing.

His team, the Softbank Hawks, is also continuing to conduct a great campaign, so they remain at the front of the Pacific League, with a record of 38 wins, 24 losses, three ties, with a 3.5 game lead over the Lotte Marinos. It should be noted that in Japan, when games end tied after the ninth inning, they remain that way and a tie is recorded.

The players contracted through the Cuban Federation, performing with the Chunichi Dragons club, belonging to the Central League (catcher from Matanzas Ariel Martínez, and the fast pitchers Raidel Martínez and Yariel Rodríguez), did not play on Thursday's game, in a match where their team defeated the Hiroshima Carp 6-0.

The Dragons are not doing well and are positioned fourth in the Central League, with an unfavorable record of 29-33-4, 10.5 games behind the leader Yomiuri Giants; therefore they have few chances of advancing to the postseason. The preliminary stage of the tournament will close on September 30.