HAVANA, cUBA, May 10 (ACN) Cuban Ariel Martinez hit his first home run today and drove in the only run of the game where the Chunichi Dragons defeated the Yakult Swallows 1-0, with the ninth save of Raidel Martinez in the Japanese baseball season.
At Tokyo’s Meiji Jingu Stadium, in the Central Zone, the Dragons’ left fielder-turned-catcher, who had been hitless in his last five games, hit 4-2 on Tuesday to raise his average to 314 and his total number of runs batted in to two.
His compatriot and teammate Raidel Martinez was credited with his ninth save point after allowing two hits without runs in one inning of relief. His effectiveness dropped to 0.69.
Also for the Dragons, Cuban reliever Yariel Rodriguez struck out one and, although he gave up three tickets, did not give up any hits or runs in one inning to reduce his effectiveness to 1.65. Meanwhile, his compatriot starter Dayan Viciedo went 4-0 to lower his average to 234.
In another matchup with Cuban players, the Rakuten Eagles defeated the Lotte Marinos 7-0. For the Marinos, Adeiny Hechavarria went 3-0 with two strikeouts to lower his average to 200.
The game between the Seibu Lions and the SoftBank Falcons, in which several Cuban players play, was suspended due to rain.