Havana, March 18 (JIT) -- Cuba's Liván Moinelo scored his first victory in the preseason of the Japan Professional Baseball League 2024, which will officially begin on March 29.

At the Pay Pay Dome, in Fukuoka, for the Pacific League, the fast left-hander from Pinar del Río allowed two runs and five hits in 5.1 chapters, in the 9x3 victory of the SoftBank Falcons over the Seibu Lions.

Moinelo, who struck out six opponents and only gave up one ticket in the game, left his record at 1-0 and his effectiveness at 2.61.

It seems that the manager of the Falcons, Hiroki Kokubo, decided to use Moinelo as a starter for the upcoming season.

In the last II Elite League of Cuban Baseball, in which Moinelo served as a reliever for the runner-up Artemisa, he pitched more than three innings in a game, something he did not do in the Aponese league, in which his performances occupied the seventh and eighth chapters.

After that game, the supersonic left-hander told JIT that it suited him just fine, as he had been told about the possibility of being used as a starter with Softbank. And that's almost a done deal.

Also for the Pacific League, Cuban starter Ariel Martinez went 3-1. He reduced his average to .346 in the Nippon Ham Fighters' 1x5 loss to the Yomiuri Giants at Es Con Field in Hokkaido.