Ariel Martinez is today totally recovered from a stroke to the dugout.

Havana, May 12 (JIT) - Cuban Ariel Martinez hit his fourth home run in the Japanese Professional Baseball League.

Team Cuba's catcher in the last World Classic, Ariel also hit a single in four innings and drove in a run, although his effort was insufficient to prevent the Nippon Ham Fighters' 3x6 loss to the SoftBank Falcons on Thursday.

The Cuban hit the ball out of the park for the second consecutive day and for the third time in four games, raising his average to .268 and his total of runs batted in to nine.

Also pitching on the day was right-handed pitcher Raidel Martínez, who allowed one hit with no runs and struck out two in one inning of relief to keep his ERA at 0.00.

Nevertheless, the Hiroshima Carp defeated the Chunichi Dragons with a 3-2 score in 11 innings.