China Trust: Ex-Big leaguer Ariel Miranda debuts in Taiwan

Though you probably didn’t know it, CBPL has started games. What’s better, former ex-MLB pitcher Ariel Miranda of China Trust took the mound.

The first baseball circuit to debut in the midst of this COVID-19 outbreak was the CPBL in Taiwan and the Chinatrust Brothers took on the Uni-President Seven-Eleven Lions in front of an empty stadium. The Lions lost to China Trust in extra innings 4-1 in a well-played contest.

Former Seattle Mariners pitcher Ariel Miranda took the mound for China Trust and although he didn’t factor in the decision pitched a whale of a game in his first start in the league.

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The 31-year-old lefty hurled five innings in which he only surrendered three hits, gave up one earned runs and struck out seven batters.  Miranda closed his first start in the Asian league with a 1.80 earned run average.

The native of Mayabeque, Cuba has plenty of experience in various leagues including MLB. During his time with the Seattle Mariners and the Baltimore Orioles compiled a record of 13-9 and 4.72 ERA.

The last two seasons were spent by Miranda in the land of the rising sun with the SoftBank Hawks in which won 13 games in that span. He was also a key piece of the team’s championship runs during the last two years and posted a 3.36 earned run average during that time.

Miranda led the Cuban National Series in strikeouts with the Mayabeque Hurricanes when he decided to defect from Cuba in 2013. During his seven seasons in the Serie Nacional, he had a 22-25 and struck out 274 batters in 80 starts.

Miranda then signed with Baltimore Orioles in 2015 for the sum of $778K and worked his way up to the Majors where he debuted in 2016 with the O’s.

China Trust signed the hard-throwing lefthander during the off-season for the sum of 600K to be their ace and if we base what his season will look like on his first start, expect Brothers to have the #1 starter that they were looking for when they decided to acquire Miranda.