Baseball: Cuban imports help Hawks tie Japan Series

Ariel Miranda pitched five innings and Alfredo Despaigne drove in four runs as a quartet of Cuban imports helped lift the SoftBank Hawks to a 9-8 win over the Hiroshima Carp in Japan Series Game 3.Following Game 1's 2-2 tie, the win at Yafuoku Dome by the Pacific League's Hawks tied up the series at 1-1-1 against the Central League's Hiroshima Carp.Miranda (1-0), a former Seattle Mariner, started and allowed three runs over five innings, while Despaigne scored twice and drove in four runs, three on a sixth-inning homer that appeared to put the game out of reach.Despaigne, an outfielder used…READ FULL ARTICLE