Ariel Martínez hit his fifth home run of the season in two at-bats on Tuesday and drove in a run, but his efforts were unable to prevent the Nippon Ham Fighters’ 4-2 defeat at the hands of the SoftBank Hawks at Es Con Field in Hokkaido. .
The catcher from Matanzas, Cuba who had not homered since May 11, raised his average to .250 and his RBI total to 10 on the campaign. Liván Moinelo struck out all three batters he faced in a perfect inning of relief to lower his ERA to 1.29 for SoftBank.
Así fue el jonrón solitario de hoy (23/05/2023) de 🇨🇺Ariel Martínez en la #npb. Su 5to de la campaña.
👇👇👇👇👇 https://t.co/j7pJja5DLz— Béisbol Japonés.com (@beisboljapones) May 23, 2023
Raidel Martínez collected his eleventh save of the season after giving up a hit without runs in a relief appearance in the Chunichi Dragons’ 3-1 victory over the Hiroshima Carpas at the Mazda Stadium in that city.
The right-hander from Pinar del Río, Cuba also added two strikeouts to his personal tally, kept his ERA at 0.00 and once again tied for the lead in saves in the Central League. His countrymen and teammate Dayán Viciedo went 0-for-4 with a strikeout to lower his average to .220 on the season.