Cuban baseball player Leonys Martín leader of home run hitters in Japanese baseball

May 23, 2021

The Cuban outfielder for Lotte Marines, Leonys Martín, stands out today among Latino players in Japan's professional baseball league, where he has accumulated 14 home runs and 35 RBIs, leading the Pacific League.

Martín, a native of Villa Clara, hit a three-run home run this Sunday in the Marines' 5-6 loss to the Rakuten Eagles.

At the ZOZO Marine Stadium in Chiba, the former Major League player also hit a single, bringing his average to .266 and finishing as the leader of the Pacific League and the entire competition in home runs.

Among home run hitters, Martín leads the Pacific by ahead of Yutaro Sugimoto (Orix) who has 11, while in the overall standings, he is followed by Munetaka Murakami (Yakult) and Kazuma Okamoto (Yomiuri), who have 13 and 12 home runs, respectively.

Meanwhile in RBIs, Martín is first in the Pacific and second in the competition behind Okamoto who has totaled 41.

His compatriot and also from Villa Clara, Dayán Viciedo, went yard in the 4-1 victory of his Chunichi Dragons over the Yomiuri Giants.

Viciedo, infielder for the Dragons, hit three hits, including his sixth home run, with one run scored and two RBIs to reach 24 and finish with an average of .266.

Also Cuban, Raidel Martínez, recorded his sixth save of the tournament, striking out two of the opponents he faced in one inning of work, to now certify an ERA of 1.08.

Likewise, also a relief pitcher from the largest island of the Antilles, Liván Moinelo, shut out the three batters from the Orix Buffaloes that he faced in the SoftBank Hawks' 7-2 victory.

Moinelo, native of the western Cuban province of Pinar del Río, thus left his ERA at 0.45 in the competition.

Another Latino pitcher who excelled on Sunday was Venezuelan Albert Suárez, who was credited with his second win of the season with the Yakult Swallows, who defeated the DeNA Stars 10-5.

During his performance of six innings at Meiji Jingu Stadium in Tokyo, Suárez (2-2) allowed six hits and two runs, with two strikeouts and three walks to conclude with an ERA of 3.89.

His fellow countryman and Yakult teammate José Osuna went 3-for-4 with a home run, a double, a single, three runs scored and one RBI, to raise his batting average to .298.

For the losers, Puerto Rican Neftalí Soto hit a single in four at-bats to leave his average at .231.

After these results in the Pacific League, Hanshin leads with 28 games won, 12 lost and two ties, while in the Central League, SoftBank leads with (24-17-7).