By: Robiel Vega
After a complicated returnYulieski Gurriel seems to be back in shape and what better than a home run to put things in their place. After an absence of 9 games, the Spiritus native had batted, in the last 6, just for 087, 23-2, with no extra-base hits and no RBIs in that span.
Encouraged by Yordan Álvarez’s twenty-third homer, just before stopping in the batting box, in the bottom of the third and with a two-ball count and two strikes, the Japanese Kikuchi made the mistake of leaving a slider hanging at 81 miles in the low zone, but in that place where “La Piña” feels comfortable and like a golfer, he sent the ball more than 400 feet above the high near right field in the Minute Maid Park.
With this home run, the game took a comfortable 7-for-0 selloff for the Siderales over the Mariners and Yulieski hit his 13th home run of the season; the previous one had dispatched him in his last game before injuring himself, on August 1 against the San Francisco Giants.
For “La Piña” it means a confidence blow, in perhaps the most difficult moment of the season for him. Even so, it maintains its numbers very high, with an average of 308, OBP of 375, SLG of 472 and OPS of 847.
Among the Cuban navy, Yuli remains among the first in several departments: leader in hits with 119, 4th in runs scored with 57, co-leader in doubles with 24, tied with Randy Arozarena, fourth in RBIs with 67, third in produced with 111 and fifth in walks with 44. As for the American League, the Spaniard is fifth in batting average and seventh in OBP, showing that this small bump does not detract in any way from his tremendous performance throughout this 2021, where, with 37 years , is reaping several of its best all-time numbers
Without further ado, enjoy this tremendous hit from «La Piña», Yulieski Gurriel: