The Cuban team that will participate in the upcoming Premier 12 won its fifth game this Wednesday in its preparation leading up to the event. On this occasion they beat the prospects of CTBC Brothers 7-1, a team that was crowned on October 25 in the CPBL (Taiwan Professional League).
The clash took place at the Intercontinental Baseball Stadium in Taipei and in the first three innings the Cuban offense was somewhat asleep against the pitching American Jack Fox, but then they managed to score seven runs via six hits, six walks and three errors by the rival defense.
Yoennis Yera was the winner after tossing five full innings, where he allowed five hits, including a home run that led to the only run he allowed. The left-hander also struck out five opponents and walked one. In three games pitched during the preparation phase he has now pitched 11 innings , fanning 13 and posting a 2.45 ERA over that span.
Yusniel Padrón-Artiles followed Yera and did an excellent job in this game. In three innings pitched the right-hander did not allow any runs. In total he only allowed one single, walked none and struck out six. Raidel Martínez returned to see action with the Antillean team, after pitching the ninth without any complications and striking of the three batters he faced. The Cuban team struck out nine times, a third of them were by Yoelkis Guibert and Lázaro Armenteros also struck out twice.
Moncada went 1-for-3 with a single, a walk and scored two of the Cuban runs. Ariel Martínez, was the only player with multihits in the game after going 2-for-5 with two RBIs and one run scored. The remaining three hits were swatted by Guibert, Andrys Pérez and Jean Walters; the latter knocked in a run.
Yadil Mujica went 0-for-4 with a strikeout, but he drove in one of the four runs that the Cuban teams, the remaining three were scored due to the rivals’ mistakes. Cuba will play another game today against the CTBC Brothers, current CPBL champions, also at the Intercontinental Baseball Stadium and with a start time of 05:35 AM.
Cuban lineup:
1.Yoelkis Guibert (CF): 5-1, 3K
2.Yoan Moncada (3B): 3-1, 2R, BB
3.Erisbel Arruebarruena (SS): 1-0, R, BB
4.Ariel Martínez (1B): 5-2, R, 2RBI
5.Lázaro Armenteros (LF): 4-0, HBP, 2K
6.Rafael Viñales (DH): 3-0, R, BB
7.Jean Walters (RF): 4-1, R, RBI, K
8.Andrys Pérez (C): 3-1, BB, K
9.Yadil Mujica (2B): 4-0, RBI, K
Substitutions:
Christian Rodríguez: 2-0, R, BB, K
Roberto Baldoquín: 0-0, BB
Pitching:
Yoennis Yera: 5.0 IP, 5H, ER, HR, BB, 5K
Yusniel Padrón-Artiles: 3.0 IP, H, 0ER, 6K
Raidel Martínez: 1.0 IP, 0H, 0ER, 2K