Tokyo, November 16 (RHC)-- Cuban baseball players Alfredo Despaigne, Liván Moinelo and Yurisbel Gracial will head out to the Kyocera Dome in Osaka next Saturday with the SoftBank Falcons, at the start of the Japan Baseball Series, where they will be looking for their fourth straight crown against the Yomiuri Giants.
Despaigne (34) and Moinelo (24) have worn the club's uniform for the last three titles (2017, 2018, and 2019) -- the last one against the Giants themselves. For his part, Gracial (35) was involved in the last two victories.
To reach the final (Japan Series), the Falcons beat the Chiba Lotte Marinos 3-0, in a series of the best of five games, with the Cuban trident playing a leading role.
Despaigne, who missed a large part of the season due to injuries, stood out in the two victories on the field, since the third one the Falcons had guaranteed without playing because of their condition as champions.
On Sunday, in the second clash, he hit 4-3, with a double and two scores, in the 6-4 victory, while the day before he had gone 4-1, with one score.
Moinelo, meanwhile, won both playoff games against the Marinos in a relay role, allowing no runs in 2.1 innings with three strike-outs in a season where he led the Hold Points section in the Pacific League (40) to become the third Latino to achieve such distinction in the Japan Professional League (NPB).
Gracial also excelled in one of the Falcons' two successes, winning the first playoff victory 3-2 with a ticket.
The Japan Series, from which the 2020 season monarch will emerge, will be played to the best of seven matches and will kick off on Saturday, November 21st, at the home of the Yomiuri Giants, the Kyocera Dome.