Alfredo Despaigne.

Photo: beisboljapones.com.

Cuban Alfredo Despaigne today increased his average to .267 and pushed to 23 in the only match of the day in Japanese baseball, between SoftBank's Halcones and Lotte's Marinos.

The Caribbean outfielder has accumulated 198 plate appearances, had 52 hits, eight doubles, seven home runs, 18 walks, 54 structured runs and has a .409

, as well as an OPB (on-base percentage) of .327.

His compatriot and teammate Yurisbel Gracial failed in four at-bats, two by way of strikeout and saw his average drop to .285, while registering 295 occasions at home, 84 hits, 13 tube-eyes, two triples, seven homers, .414 from slugging and a .356 OBP.

At the Kyocera Dome in Osaka, the Falcons fell 2-3 but maintain their lead in the Pacific League with 61 wins and 51 losses, half a line ahead of the Seibu Lions.

Mexican Roberto Osuna scored his fifth save of the season for Lotte after striking out two of the three opponents he faced in a perfect inning of relief.

The right-hander has four saves and a win in his last five starts out of the bullpen and improved his ERA to 0.90.

Colombian pitcher Tayron Guerrero allowed a scoreless hit and struck out two opponents in an inning also in relief to lower his ERA to 3.32.

Japanese right-hander Taiki Tojo scored the win after allowing a scoreless

in a relief inning and the setback went to youngster Yuki Tsumori, who gave up a run and a hit in an inning of work.

Japan League regular season action resumes on Tuesday with another five games.

The Yomiuri Giants will rival the Yakult Swallows, Central League scores 68 and 47. The Yokohama DeNA BayStars, second in this bracket to a complete seven, will clash with the Chunichi Dragons.

The Hanshin Tigers will face the Hiroshima Toyo Carp, the Rakuten Eagles will face the Orix Buffaloes, while the Seibu Lions will host Nippon Ham.

(Taken from Latin Press)