(Story Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by Henk Seppen)
   Kingdom Team ends up short vs. Cuba in second game Premier12
Nederlands
 TAICHUNG (Taiwan) -
The team of the Kingdom of the Netherlands on Wednesday-afternoon (November 11) narrowly lost 6-5 vs. Cuba in its second game of the Premier12.
The Netherlands had begon the event on Monday with a 7-4 win vs. Chinese Taipei, while Cuba lost 5-1 to Canada on Tuesday.
It was another marathon of some 3 1/2 hours and it was another exciting game full of suspense.
The Netherlands failed to hold onto a 4-1 lead, which was highlighted by a homerun by Shawn Zarraga, who later left the game with a hand-injury.
Cuba rallied for four runs in the sixth to tie the score, then won it in the eighth.
In the opening game, the Netherlands saw two pitchers leave the field with injuries.
Starter Diegomar Markwell was hit by a line drive, which ended in a double play in the third inning.
In the fifth inning, Tom Stuifbergen twisted his ankle while completing his wind-up.
And that didn't look good, as his ankle gave way when he landed.
Stuifbergen clearly was in pain, but was able to walk off the field on his own strength.
He was transported to a hospital and there, luckily, no fractures were diagnosed.
He now is being treated daily by the medical staff and it is hoped that he can return to the mound again later in the tournament.
Today was the first day on which all 12 participating teams played a game.
The Orange squad will play its next game on Thursday and then meets Italy in Douliu, starting at 6:35 local time (11:35 AM Dutch time).
(November 11)
Starting pitcher for the Netherlands was righthander Jair Jurrjens, who in 2006 was a member of the Orange pitching-staff during the first edition of the World Baseball Classic.
He made his first appearance in a Dutch uniform during an exhibition game before the event against Eckerd College during the preparations for the event.
During the Classic, he pitched in relief against Puerto Rico, when he entered the game in the sixth inning.
He then gave up a single and a double, followed by a sacrifice fly, but he also struckout Major Leaguer Bernie Williams.
In the sixth inning of that game, Jurrjens gave up a homerun to Ivan Rodriguez, before being relieved.
Puerto Rico won the game 8-3.
That was on March 8, 2006.
A year later, at age 21, Jurrjens made his Major League-debut, pitching for the Detroit Tigers.
He then started seven games and was 3-1.
In the following seven years, the righthander also pitched in the Majors.
He was a regular starter in 2008-2011 while being with the Atlanta Braves.
In 2012, he threw in eleven games for the Braves, then added two in 2013 for Baltimore Orioles and two in 2014 for Colorado Rockies.
Today, at age 29, Jurrjens returned to the mound for the Orange squad in a big tournament, nine years, eight months and three days later.
And he did fine in the first five innings he pitched.
Jurrjens retired the side in the first inning, including two strikeouts.
After the Orange-side also was retired in order in the bottom of the first, Cuba opened the score in the second at bat.
With one out, Alexander Malleta hit the ball over leftfielder Curt Smith, who might had a chance of catching it, but that now became a double.
Hereafter, Yosvany Alarcon singled, then Malleta scored on a sacrifice fly by Estayle Hernandez, but Jurrjens then closed with a strikeout.
Cuban starter Frank Montieth retired the side again in the second inning, striking out two batters.
In the top of the third, it was Jurrjens, who retired three batters in a row.
He was then supported with some good hitting in the bottom of the third, that gave the Netherlands the lead.
Kalian Sams led off with a walk, then Sharlon Schoop singled.
They were then awarded the next base when a balk was called and Sams scored the tying run when Carlton Daal followed with a Texas Leaguer-single.
Moments later, Daal was eliminated at first base via a pick-off by Montieth, who like all Cuban pitchers, throws a lot to first base to keep the runners close to the base.
Randolph Oduber followed with a double that brought in Schoop and gave the Netherlands a 2-1 lead.
Next batter Yurendell de Caster then grounded to short stop Yordan Manduley, who opted to throw the ball to third base to eliminate Oduber there.
But that ended in an error and so, the Orange had runners on first and third base with only one out.
The inning ended with a double play.
Andruw Jones struckout, then De Caster was eliminated in a rundown, as he had taken off to steal second base on the swing by Jones.
After Jurrjens retired the Cuban side for the third time in four innings, the Netherlands added two runs in the bottom of the fourth.
Lead-off hitter Wladimir Balentien was ruled out when he touched his batted ball of fair territory, but then Curt Smith singled and Shawn Zarraga followed with a homerun to make it 4-1.
That led to a pitching change.
Miguel Lahera took over and retired the next two batters.
In the top of the fifth, after having retired nine batters in a row, Jurrjens gave up an one-out single to Estayle Hernandez.
He followed with his sixth strikeout, then gave up a single to Yordan Manduley that put runners on first and third base.
However, they stranded, as a pop-fly in the infield ended the at bat.
Cuba became more productive off of Jurrjens in the top of the sixth inning and rallied for four runs to turn the game their way.
The brothers Lourdes Gurriel and Yulieski Gurriel led off with singles, then Alfredo Despaigne followed with a runscoring single.
With runners on second and third base, Jurrjens recorded his seventh strikeout, but then gave up another run on a sacrifice fly by Yosvany Alarcon.
With two outs and a runner on third base, Estayle Hernandez drove the ball over the rightfiield-fence for a 2-run homerun, giving Cuba a 5-4 lead.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Orange immediately got on the bases again.
Andruw Jones led off with a single and Wladimir Balentien reached on an error.
Hereafter, Curt Smith grounded to short, but a balk was called.
With that, Jones and Balentien were awarded the next base, while Smith remained at bat.
That brought Cuban Manager Victor Mesa to the mound.
He first had a discussion with Lahera regarding the ball, then brought in a reliever.
José Angel García took over and got two comeback-grounders.
He then walked Kalian Sams intentionally to set up a force play.
A wild pitch followed, Jones ran towards the plate, the ball jumped up into the air from the catcher, was caught by the pitcher, who then threw it back to the catcher.
While Jones slid into the plate, catcher Alarcon more or less jumped into him trying to tag him out, leading to a colission.
Jones was safe and the score was tied at 5-5.
In the seventh inning, Juan Carlos Sulbaran took over the pitching.
Sulbaran, who two days ago celebrated his 26th birthday, retired the side.
In the bottom of the seventh, Carlton Daal led off with his third single in three at bats, but then three outs followed.
Cuba got on base again in the top of the eighth inning when Yulieski Gurriel and Alfredo Despaigne began with singles.
That led to a pitching change, as Jim Ploeger took over from Sulbaran to face lefthanded batter Alexander Malleta.
On his first pitch, Malleta hit a foul ball, which hit the right hand of catcher Shawn Zarraga.
He was unable to continue and was replaced by Dashenko Ricardo.
At the same time, Malleta was replaced by pinch-hitter Frank Morejon, who successfully put down a sacrifice bunt that moved the runners.
Hereafter, as Ploeger had done his job, he was replaced by Bayron Cornelisse.
The righthander was greeted with a single through the leftside by Yosvany Alarcon that brought in Gurriel and gave Cuba a 6-5 lead.
A strikeout and caught stealing ended the inning, but Cuba had taken the lead again.
In the bottom of the eighth, with one out, Curt Smith singled into centerfield, where centerfielder Julio Martinez lost the ball in the sun.
Immediately thereafter, Cuban Manager Victor Mesa brought in a new centerfielder.
Dwayne Kemp then took over as pinch-runner for Smith and Dashenko Ricardo followed with a single.
The inning then ended when Kalian Sams grounded into a double play with a close play on first base.
In the top of the ninth, new Orange-pitcher Orlando Yntema retired the side.
Hereafter, in the bottom of the ninth, José Angel García did the same.
But the game ended with a great catch by leftfielder Lourdes Gurriel on a line drive by Randolph Oduber.
That not only accounted for the third out, but even might have saved the game, as it would have been at least a double when Gurriel would not have caught the ball.
And who knows what would have happened thereafer.
The starting players, their replacements, positions and hitting in this game were:
1 - Randolph Oduber (CF, 1-for-5)
2 - Yurendell de Caster (3B, 0-for-4)
3 - Andruw Jones (1B, 1-for-4)
4 - Wladimir Balentien (DH, 0-for-4)
5 - Curt Smith (LF, 2-for-4), replaced by Dwayne Kemp (PR, LF, 0-for-0)
6 - Shawn Zarraga (C, 1-for-3), replaced by Dashenko Ricardo (C, 1-for-1)
7 - Kalian Sams (RF, 0-for-2)
8 - Sharlon Schoop (2B, 1-for-2), replaced by Gianison Boekhoudt (PH, 0-for-1), replaced by Hainley Statia (2B, 0-for-1)
9 - Carlton Daal (SS, 3-for-4)
Pitchers - Jair Jurrjens, Juan Carlos Sulbaran, Jim Ploeger, Bayron Cornelisse, Orlando Yntema.
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