Raidel Martínez walked out of the Tokyo Dome bullpen on Thursday night with a two-run lead, five pitches to throw, and 249 career saves behind him. He threw the five pitches, retired the Chunichi Dragons in order, and became the sixth pitcher in the history of Japanese professional baseball to save 250 games.
No foreign-born pitcher had ever done it. Nobody of any nationality had ever done it this fast.
The save
The Yomiuri Giants beat Chunichi 5–3 at the Tokyo Dome on 10 September 2026, the clubs’ 23rd meeting of the season. Martínez entered in the ninth and retired the side on five pitches. It was his 38th save of 2026, and it came against the organisation that brought him to Japan — he pitched eight seasons for Chunichi before Yomiuri signed him.
Nippon Professional Baseball’s official register, updated the following morning, records the round number: 250 saves in 411 appearances, with a 1.59 career ERA.
What 250 actually buys him
The Meikyūkai — the Golden Players Club — is Japanese baseball’s most exclusive fraternity, and unlike a Hall of Fame it has no voters. You qualify by number or you do not qualify at all. For hitters the number is 2,000 hits. For pitchers it is 200 wins or 250 saves. There is no committee to persuade.
For most of the club’s existence no foreign-born player had cleared any of those bars. Alex Ramírez, the Venezuelan outfielder who collected 2,000 hits in Japan, broke that seal and has remained the only foreign-born member. Martínez is the second, and the first to arrive from the mound.
The club announced the milestone itself on the day it happened, recording that five players had reached 250 saves before him and that Martínez was the first foreign player to do it.
Faster than anyone, younger than anyone
The speed is the part that will survive in the record book. Martínez needed 411 appearances. The previous mark belonged to Kazuhiro Sasaki — “Daimajin” — who got there in his 439th. Martínez is also the first pitcher to reach 250 NPB saves while still in his twenties; he turns 30 on 11 October.
| Rank | Pitcher | Career NPB saves | Appearances | Seasons |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hitoki Iwase | 407 | 1,002 | 1999–2018 |
| 2 | Shingo Takatsu | 286 | 598 | 1991–2007 |
| 3 | Kazuhiro Sasaki | 252 | 439 | 1990–2005 |
| 4= | Yoshihisa Hirano | 250 | 702 | 2006–2026 |
| 4= | Naoya Masuda | 250 | 802 | 2012–2026 |
| 4= | Raidel Martínez | 250 | 411 | 2018–2026 |
| 7 | Yasuaki Yamasaki | 246 | 586 | 2015–2026 |
| 8 | Kyuji Fujikawa | 243 | 782 | 2000–2020 |
| 9 | Yuki Matsui | 236 | 501 | 2014–2023 |
| 10 | Dennis Sarfate | 234 | 427 | 2011–2018 |
Source: NPB official all-time career saves register, read 11 September 2026. Hirano, Masuda, Martínez and Yamasaki were all active in the 2026 season. Martínez needed 291 fewer appearances than Hirano to arrive at the same number.
The best import closer Japan has had
The table settles a smaller argument too. Foreign pitchers have closed in Japan for decades, and the best of them was generally taken to be Dennis Sarfate, the American right-hander who saved 234 games in NPB and whose 54 saves in 2017 remain the single-season record. Martínez has now passed Sarfate’s career total by sixteen, at twenty-nine, with years in front of him. Marc Kroon (177) and Rafael Dolis (115) are the only other imports in the same conversation, and neither is close.
Martínez has been chasing Sarfate in the single-season column as well: his 46 saves in 2025 tied the Central League record and sit second on NPB’s all-time list, behind only Sarfate’s 54.
Pinar del Río to the Tokyo Dome
Martínez was born in the city of Pinar del Río on 11 October 1996, at the western end of the island. He did not leave Cuba by the route English-language readers are used to reading about. There was no showcase in the Dominican Republic, no international bonus pool, no 40-man roster.
He joined Chunichi in 2017 on an ikusei contract — a developmental deal, the bottom rung of a Japanese organisation, outside the controlled roster and outside the statistics that count. He was registered to the top roster in 2018 and made his NPB debut on 6 May that year. He took the ninth inning in earnest from 2019, then saved 20 or more in seven consecutive seasons and 30 or more in the last five. He has won the Central League saves title three times — 2022, 2024 and 2025.
Eight seasons at Chunichi produced 166 saves. Two at Yomiuri have produced 84 more.
Why this is not an MLB story, and why that matters
Almost every Cuban pitcher who becomes famous outside Cuba becomes famous in the United States. That is the story English-language baseball tells about Cuban players, and this year it has told it well: Aroldis Chapman reached 400 major league saves on 6 September, and Lázaro Montes homered in his first major league game on 1 September as the 30th Cuban-born player to appear in a big league game in 2026, a record year.
Martínez took the other road, and at 29 he has a career in Japan that no Cuban and no other foreigner has matched. He has never thrown a pitch in the major leagues. He may never need to.
His 2026 line, per the NPB register current through 10 September: 50 appearances, 4–3, 38 saves, 47 innings, 51 strikeouts, a 1.34 ERA. Career: 411 games, 250 saves, 48 holds, 414.1 innings, 469 strikeouts, 1.59 ERA.
What is left this season
Two numbers remain in reach. Sasaki’s 252 is two saves away, and would move Martínez to third on Japan’s all-time saves list before October. A fourth Central League saves title is closer still — he has led the league all year.
The wider picture is on our companion piece: Cuba’s two best pitchers are both in Japan, and the other one, Liván Moinelo, is having a season of his own in Fukuoka.
Sources
- Nippon Professional Baseball official player register, Raidel Martínez — career and 2026 totals, register dated 10 September 2026.
- NPB official all-time career saves register and single-season saves register.
- Meikyūkai (Golden Players Club) official announcement, 10 September 2026.
- Sankei Sports, 10 September 2026 — game account, Tokyo Dome.
- CiberCuba, 10 September 2026 — Cuban coverage of the milestone.
Save totals and rankings are as recorded by NPB’s official register on 11 September 2026. Cuba Dugout counts players by birthplace.
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