Cuban pitcher Raidel Martinez maintained on Monday the dominance over his fast deliveries and signed his eighteenth save of the season

Havana, September 13 (ACN)-- Cuban pitcher Raidel Martinez maintained on Monday the dominance over his fast deliveries and signed his eighteenth save of the season, in the 1-0 victory of the Chunichi Dragons over the Yakult Swallows, in the Central circuit of Japanese professional baseball.

In the only game of the day, based in Nagoya, the lanky right-hander from Pinar del Rio pitched the ninth inning with a hit and allowed no runs.

Raidel reduced his effectiveness to 1.98 and came within one save of fourth place in that category in his league, occupied by American Scott Mc Gough (Yakult Swallows).

So far, the Cuban right-hander has pitched 36.1 innings with 43 strikeouts, 21 hits, five tickets and only eight clean runs allowed.

His compatriot and teammate, starter Dayán Viciedo, connected a double in three innings and received a ticket to keep his average at 286.

After this result, the Dragons are in fourth place in their circuit, with a record of 45 wins, 53 losses and 14 ties, 12 games behind the leader Hanshin Tigers and 8.5 games away from the Golondrinas, who are in third place.

Meanwhile, in the Pacific zone, the champion SoftBank Falcons, in which four Cuban players play, is also in fourth place (46-47-18), six games behind the leader Lotte Marinos, but barely 1.5 games behind the third place, which is held by the Rakuten Eagles.

In Japanese baseball, the first three places in each zone advance to the postseason. The leaders will only play in the second round, which will offer the two tickets for the Japan Series championship.