Photo: Yuichi Terawaki
Roberto Roilan Portuondo keeps on distinguishing himself in the Baseball Challenge League, an independent Japanese circuit. Today the Cuban righty was masterful in Shinano’s 8-3 victory over Ibaraki. The flamethrower tossed six innings where he only gave up six hits, an earned run and struck out four.
Portuondo saw his ERA fall to 2.37 on the campaign and has now struck out 12 hitters in 13 innings pitched. Portuondo’s fastball was consistently clocked between 93-94 MPH on the day and might be in the cross hairs of a few teams in the NPB.
In aforementioned NPB Raidel Martínez notched his first victory of the season today after allowing a hit, no runs and striking out a batter in an inning of relief for Chunichi Dragons in their 3-2 victory over the DeNA Stars at the Vantelin Dome in Nagoya.
El derecho guantanamero @PortuondoHj lanzó 6 entradas donde solamente permitió una carrera limpia a base de 6 imparables y ponchó 4. Los Shinano Grandserows doblegaron @ibaraki_planets 8-3. Su PCL bajo a 2.37 en la temporada en la Baseball Challenge League.#pelotacubana #BCL pic.twitter.com/uSgBN4237f
— Yusseff305 🇨🇺🇺🇲 (@yusseff305) May 27, 2023
The right-hander from Pinar del Río, Cuba made his fifth consecutive appearance in which he struck out a batter, improved his record to 1-1 and kept his ERA at a miniscule 0.00. His countrymen and teammate Dayán Viciedo went 2-for-4 with 2 singles to raise his average to .257.
Liván Moinelo did not allow any runs in an episode of relief in SoftBank’s 6-5 extra innings victory over the Lotte Marines at the Pay Pay Fukuoka Dome. Moinelo, who is fifth in the Pacific League in Hold Points, lowered his ERA to 1.13.
Ariel Martinez went hitless in four plate appearances to drop his average to .237 in the Nippon Ham Fighters’ 3-1 win over the Rakuten Eagles. The slugger also has six longballs and 12 runs batted in on the campaign.