Cuban MLB Players News for the 2023 postseason. A compendium from several sources
Oct 3
Rangers 4, Rays 0
Game 1 was Randy Arozarena's first game in front of his mother in MLB. He added two hits.
The first pitch was thrown by Sandra González - Randy's mom - in Tampa Bay ahead of Game 1 of the AL Wild Card series. Having received her visa just last week, González was getting to see her son play in the majors for the first time. A former softball player for Team México, González threw a perfect strike without a windup. A the game, Arozarena went 2-for-4 with a double and a strikeout.
Yandy Díaz was the Ray's leadoff in wild-card opener. Díaz started at first base and batted leadoff in Tuesday's AL Wild Card Series opener against the Rangers. The American League batting champ was just 3-for-16 in his career versus Rangers starter Jordan Montgomery. The game saw him go 0-for-3 with a strikeout against Montgomery and 0-for-1 against reliever Aroldis Chapman. Also, he made one of Ray's four errors, on a grounder by Corey Seager in the first inning.
Aroldis Chapman worked the eighth inning. Chapman struck one over a scoreless inning in Tuesday's 4-0 win over the Rays. It was already a 4-0 game in the eighth inning when manager Bruce Bochy had Chapman enter the game. This time, the Cuban Missile did not disappoint. Despite facing the top of the Ray's order, he retired them all, including a strikeout against Randy Arozarena. To end the inning, Chapman needed only 14 pitches - 12 strikes - and threw 4 pitches above 100 mph.
Adolis García with one hit in wild-card opener. García started in right field and went 1-for-5 with two strikeouts in Tuesday's 4-0 win against the Rays. García left a runner in scoring position on a Texas team that went 2-for-13 with RISP.
Marlins 1, Phillies 4
Jorge Soler went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts in the loss to the Phillies on Tuesday. In the same game Yulieski Gurriel was 0-for-1.
It was Soler’s first postseason game since he hit a three-run homer in Game 6 of the 2021 World Series for the Braves. He was the World Series MVP that year. The Marlins are probably going to need him to bust out again if they’re going to score enough runs to go anywhere this October. At the same game, Yulieski Gurriel came on as a pinch hitter and struck out against reliever José Alvarado in the seventh inning.
D-backs 6, Brewers 3
Lourdes Gurriel Jr. went hitless in Game 1 of the NL Wild Card Series.
The 2023 postseason started off badly for Gurriel. He went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts in a 6-3 victory against the Brewers. Gurriel had a slugging percentage of .263 in his past 10 games, including zero homers, and in his last appearance during the regular season, he racked up two hits - going 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI - against the Astros.
