Slow start for Matanzas as they begin their preparations for the Classic.

Both Andrys Pérez and Ariel Martínez are expected to be key pieces within the range of possible lineups that manager Germán Mesa will use.

The two Matanzas players who saw action in the first game, a confrontation against Nicaragua that marks the beginning of preparations for the World Baseball Classic, had a quiet start.

Just days after being crowned national baseball champions with the Matanzas Crocodiles, Andrys Pérez and Ariel Martínez joined the Cuban team that will play several exhibition games in Nicaragua.

In the first game against the Central American country’s national team, both athletes started, Ariel Martínez batting third and playing left field, and Andrys Pérez catching and batting eighth.

«El Guajiro,» as the burly infielder Ariel Martínez is affectionately known, drove in the team’s first run with an infield hit.
Overall, he went 1-for-4 with a strikeout and played defense at first base and left field.

Andrys, for his part, went hitless in three official at-bats before being replaced by a pinch hitter in the bottom of the game.

Defensively, it wasn’t a particularly demanding game for the catcher from Guanábana; he threw out the only runner who attempted to steal a base and managed the pitching well.

Both Andrys Pérez and Ariel Martínez are expected to be key pieces in the various lineup configurations that manager Germán Mesa will use.

Written by George Carlos Suárez.