Cubans lead Softbank to victory in Japanese baseball

Excellent performances by Cubans Alfredo Despaigne and Livan Moinelo were essentials in the 9-6 win of the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks over the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, in the Pacific League of the Japanese Professional Baseball League (NPB).

According to the NPB website, Despaigne batted 2 for 5, with two runs batted in and same amount of runs scored, thus increasing his batting average to .224 and now amounts ten RBIs.

Meanwhile, Moinelo pitched one scoreless inning, with three strikeouts and one walk, and he did not allow hits or runs and kept immaculate his ERA (0.00).

The lefty reliever has seen action in 11 games always as closer and now has 10 innings pitched in which he amounts 12 strikeouts, with four walks and has only allowed four hits.

After this match, the Hawks leads the standings of the Pacific League with balance of 15 wins, 10 losses and two draws, 0.5 games ahead of the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles (13-10-1) and 1.5 games over the Saitama Seibu Lions (12-11-1).