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The Cuban pitcher Raidel Martínez achieved his first victory of the season this Wednesday in the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), during the 5-3 triumph of the Yomiuri Giants over the Hiroshima Carp at the Nagaragawa Stadium in Gifu, in front of 14,657 spectators.
According to Pelota Cubana, the player from Pinar del Río took the mound in the ninth inning and closed it flawlessly: he allowed no hits or runs, issued one walk, and recorded one strikeout.
The leadoff batter of the inning, Taiki Mochimaru, was retired on a grounder to second base. Then, Martínez issued a walk to Shoichi Futamata, but struck out Shunsuke Tamura to seal the victory.
The Giants connected for a total of 11 hits and took the lead from the second inning. Hiroshima tried to respond with three runs between the fourth and fifth innings, but Yomiuri's bullpen maintained the lead until the end.
With this victory, Martínez improves his record for the 2026 season to 1-1, with an earned run average of 2.38 over 11.1 innings pitched and three earned runs allowed. The closer also has accumulated 10 saves, 12 strikeouts, and a batting average against of just .154.
The start of the 2026 campaign was surrounded by uncertainty for the player. Following Cuba's elimination in the VI World Baseball Classic, held in San Juan, Puerto Rico, neither Martínez nor his compatriot Liván Moinelo reported immediately to the spring training of their Japanese teams, leading to rumors of potential defections.
On March 24, the INDER of Pinar del Río denied those rumors through an official statement, confirming that both players were in their home province preparing to travel to Japan. That same night, they departed for the Asian country and joined their teams before the NPB Opening Day.
Martínez, born on October 11, 1996, in Pinar del Río, signed a historic four-year, 32.5 million dollar contract with the Yomiuri Giants in December 2024, the largest ever awarded to a Latin American player in the NPB.
The baseball player turned down Major League offers valued between 50 and 70 million dollars to remain affiliated with the Cuban Baseball Federation, making him a unique case among elite Cuban players.
In the 2025 season, Martínez had an outstanding campaign with 46 saves and an earned run average of 1.11 over 56.2 innings pitched, accumulating more than 212 saves in his career in the NPB, a number that positions him as the all-time leader in saves among foreign pitchers in the Japanese league.
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