Tonight, the Netherlands pitching held Chinese Taipei scoreless.
Orlando Yntema started and gave up seven basehits in six innings.
Hereafter, Mike Bolsenbroek, Kaj Timmermans and Kevin Kelly all pitched a hitless inning.
The four combined on the first shutout-victory for the Netherlands in the World Port Tournament since July 1, 2013.
Back then, the Orange Team shutout Cuba, 7-0.
The Netherlands opened the score with two runs in the top of the first inning off of starter Kuo-Hao Chiang.
With one out, Bryan Engelhardt doubled and Sharlon Schoop walked.
The first run was scored when next batter Gianison Boekhoudt delivered a single.
That brought Schoop to third base and he scored the second run on a force play-grounder by Denzel Richardson.
The Netherlands added another run in the second inning.
With two outs, Dudley Leonora walked and moved to third base on a single by Stijn van der Meer.
Moments later, Van der Meer stole second base and when the pitch by Chiang ended in a wild pitch, it enabled Leonora to score.
The Netherlands offense was retired in order in the third inning by new pitcher Shuo-Cheng Wei, but the team then decided the game by scoring three runs in the fourth.
Denzel Richardson led off with a homerun, his second in two days.
On Friday, the outfielder hit a grand slam homerun.
With one out, Jason Halman reached on an infield-hit, then the bases got loaded when Wei walked both Dudley Leonora and Stijn van der Meer, which led to a pitching change.
Wei-Fan Tsai took over, but he was greeted with a 2-run single by Dwayne Kemp, who had struckout in his previous at bat in the second inning with a runner on third base.
This time, it was Kemp, who stranded on second base, as Bryan Engelhardt popped out and Sharlon Schoop struckout.
Tsai threw fine and struckout four batters in 4 1/3 inning.
He stopped the Dutch scoring initially and retired the side in the sixth and seventh inning.
But he then gave up the seventh Orange-run in the eighth.
With one out, Mark Smit singled and Jason Halman doubled.
Smit, who had entered the game in the bottom of the seventh as new centerfielder, went on to score on a grounder by Dudley Leonora.
He also was the last batter to face Tsai, who was relieved by Po-Hsien Hsieh, who closed the at bat by striking out Stijn van der Meer.
...Jason Halman was 2-for-4 with a double and scored once...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
The Netherlands scored its eighth and final run in the top of the ninth off of new pitcher Cheng-Hao Wang.
He gave up a lead-off double to Dwaye Kemp, who then scored on a following single by Bryan Engelhardt, who was eliminated himself at second base.
Chinese Taipei reached base in each of the six innings Orlando Yntema threw.
The team collected seven basehits off of the righthander, but got into scoring position only three times, reaching third base only once.
In the bottom of the first inning, with a 2-0 lead, Yntema walked lead-off hitter Chih-Yu Tsai, but he was caught stealing moments later after a pick-off at first base by catcher Jason Halman.
Yu-Wei Kao then followed with an infield-hit and Wei-Chih Chen singled, but they stranded.
In the third, Taipei got its next runner in scoring position.
Chih-Yu Tsai again led off with a walk and this time, he stole second base with two outs, but was left behind.
In the fourth, veteran Han Lin doubled with one out and became the lone Taipei-runner to reach third base when he advanced on a foul-out.
But Lin also was left behind.
Yntema gave up a lead-off single to Po-Hao Huang in the sixth, but then was supported with a double play.
From the seventh inning on, three Dutch relievers held Chinese Taipei hitless, which reached base only one more time.
With one out in the seventh, Mike Bolsenbroek walked Ching-Han Ko, but followed with a strikeout.
A flyout ended the at bat.
Kaj Timmermans and Kevin Kelly retired the side in the eighth and ninth inning.
Playing for the Netherlands were:
Dwayne Kemp (3B/2B, 2-for-5), Bryan Engelhardt (1B, 2-for-5), Sharlon Schoop (2B, 0-for-3), Delano Selassa (3B, 0-for-1), Gianison Boekhoudt (DH, 2-for-4), Denzel Richardson (RF, 1-for-5), Gilmer Lampe (CF, 0-for-3), Mark Smit (CF, 1-for-1), Jason Halman (C, 2-for-4), Dudley Leonora (LF, 0-for-2), Stijn van der Meer (SS, 1-for-3) and pitchers Orlando Yntema, Mike Bolsenbroek, Kaj Timmermans and Kevin Kelly.
|
Netherlands shuts out Chinese Taipei to reach Final
ROTTERDAM (Neth.) -
The Netherlands Baseball Team shutout Chinese Taipei 8-0 on Friday-evening (July 19) to become the first finalist of the 17th World Port Tournament Baseball.
Earlier on Day 8 of the event, the university-team of Japan recorded a big 13-1 win against Curaçao in the afternoon-game.
After an unimpressive start in its first three games, the Netherlands recovered well in the following days and tonight, the team recorded its third win in a row.
With tonight's win, the Netherlands became the first team to reach the Final, which will be played on Sunday-afternoon.
Because of the loss, Chinese Taipei now will face Japan on Saturday-evening with the winner becoming the second finalist.
The loser of that game will finish in third place.
World Port Tournament 2019.