Former Cuban pitcher Aquino Abreu died this Friday at the Arnaldo Milián Castro Provincial Clinical Surgical Hospital, in the province of Villa Clarawhere he had been admitted for just over a week.
A regular member of the island’s national team in the 1960s, Abreu would be 87 years old on March 7. He suffered from chronic kidney disease and underwent surgery in recent days to stop stomach bleeding, according to the provincial station CMHW on its social networks.
This ailment, along with other complications of his advanced age, caused the death of the man who had celebrated the 57th anniversary of the two zero-hit, zero-run games last January that he threw consecutively in our National Seriesa feat that no one has managed to match.
The first of those victories was signed on January 16 at the Augusto César Sandino stadium, in Santa Clara, against the Occidentales team. Nine days later he repeated that same performance against Industriales, in the Latin American.
The right-hander from Villa Clara made his debut in the I National Baseball Series with the Azucareros team and was in the national preselections from 1962 to 1970, integrating the Cuba team on several occasions, the outlet specified.
He participated in the IX Central American and Caribbean Games in Kingston in 1962 and in the IV Pan American Games in Sao Pablo in 1963, a tournament in which he took the lead in earned run average with 0.50 and a balance of two wins without losses.
He was also part of the team that defended the colors of Cuba at the X Central American Games in San Juan 1966. That same year he was selected to participate in the World Cup in Colombia, but was unable to attend because he was not granted a visa, adds the publication
It stands out that Abreu had a very strong arm and capable of throwing a large number of pitches, as he did on December 28, 1965, when he threw 19.1 innings in a game that lasted 20 innings.
Due to his current record, he was selected among the 10 best athletes in Cuba in 1966. In 1975 he managed to enter the select group of pitchers that exceeds the figure of 1,000 or more innings (1,116) in Cuban baseball.
Another of his great performances was in the VIII National Baseball Series, when he finished as the leader of the pitchers with a 10-1 record and a 1.09 earned run average.
According to statistics, Abreu played 14 editions of the National Series, in which he accumulated 232 performances and a balance of 63 wins and 65 losses. Plus, he hit just .209 and posted a terrific 2.26 ERA.
Still an active player, he provided technical assistance for the development of Korean baseball in 1969 and 1974.
As manager he directed the Arroceros team that participated in the XVI National Baseball Series and in 1983 he transmitted his knowledge of Nicaraguan baseball.
