Photo: Yuhki Ohboshi.

José Ramón Rodríguez will make a postponed dream come true

when he opens this Tuesday against Golondrinas de Yakult the third of the games scheduled by Cuba as preparation for the V World Baseball Classic.

The right-hander from Camagüey will assume a challenge that was elusive when a discomfort in the lumbar region prevented him from doing so against Luchadores de Nippon Ham, executioner 11-2 of the West Indians in a duel played on Friday.

“

It was a slight injury, from which I recovered in two days, without stopping training, but the teachers wanted to preserve me,

” said the boy who added 13 successes and five slips between the 61st National Baseball Series (11-3) and the I Cuban Baseball Elite League (2-2).

“I feel in perfect shape to do the job,”

Rodríguez emphasized, pleased with the way his teammates shook off a backhand to win a 3-2 victory over Dragones de Chunichi on Sunday.

The coach Pedro Luis Lazo explained that the planning for the commitment against the champion of the Japanese central league also includes Raidel Martínez, Frank Abel Álvarez, Javier Mirabal and Yeudis Reyes.

Asked about Raidel, a natural closer, the strategist explained that he will be the first reliever considering that traditionally games of this type tend to remain level in their initial segment.

“That is the situation in which they will come out during the event, to fulfill the function of preserving advantages or preventing the opponent from opening the scoring.

Hence the decision not to leave them for the finals in these blank games, ”he specified.

The bid against Golondrinas de Yakult will be the penultimate for the Caribbean team in Okinawa, where a day later they will compete with Gigantes de Yomiuri.

Once that commitment has been fulfilled, he will travel to Miyazaki, the scene on the following date of a confrontation with SoftBank's Halcones, which according to Lazo could host pitching performances by Elián Leyva and Onelki García.

See also:

Cuba's challenge in the Clásico: You can hear it clearly, clearly...

(Taken from JIT)