L&D Amsterdam Pirates vs. Curaçao Neptunus
On a partly cloudy afternoon in Amsterdam, weather conditions were fine, but temperatures dropped during the game, resulting in a chilly wind.
That was not the only thing that turned around this afternoon.
Amsterdam Pirates held a apparent 'comfortable' 6-2 lead and while Neptunus narrowed the deficit to 6-5, the lead didn't appear to be in jeopardy.
However, a crucial error in the sixth inning with two outs was chastised with a 3-run homerun and from that moment on, Neptunus turned the game its way and increased its lead with ten more runs.
In the top of the first inning, Neptunus opened the score with two runs off of starter Kevin Heijstek.
Dwayne Kemp led off with a double, then Benjamin Dille singled and the bases got loaded via an infield-hit by Raily Legito.
With one out, Christian Diaz also singled and that led to the two runs.
Amsterdam Pirates immediately came alongside in its first at bat off of Diegomar Markwell.
With one out, Michael Duursma singled, which brought Gilmer Lampe in the batter's box.
He was initially called out on strikes, while having only two strikes.
And so, his at bat continued and on the next delivery, Lampe drove the ball over the leftfield-fence for a 2-run homerun.
...Gilmer Lampe...
...2-run homerun...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
In the second inning, Amsterdam struck again.
With one out, the home team got the bases loaded when Rashid Gerard and Max Clarijs singled and Nick Urbanus walked.
Next batter Michael Duursma then also drove the ball into leftfield where it just cleared the fence for a grand slam homerun.
...Michael Duursma...
...grand slam homerun...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
And so, Amsterdam was leading 6-2 and a scoreless third inning followed.
In the remainder of the game, Amsterdam was unable to take more distance.
Dennis Burgersdijk took over the Amsterdam-pitching in the fourth and gave up five hits and three runs.
With one out, the bases got loaded via singles by Rien Vernooij, Shaldimar Daantji and Dwayne Kemp.
A grounder by Benjamin Dille and singles by Raily Legito and Gianison Boekhoudt brought in the three runners.
Burgersdijk closed with a strikeout, but Neptunus has narrowed the deficit to 6-5.
The turn-around came in the top of the sixth inning.
Daniel Fernandes, who was added to the batting order in this at bat as tenth batter, led off with a single and moved on a wild pitch.
He was then eliminated at third base on a grounder by Dwayne Kemp, who was forced out himself on a grounder by Benjamin Dille.
Hereafter, with two outs, a hit by Raily Legito was caught but dropped.
As Legito was still standing in the batter's box, there was still a possibility to retire the veteran player and keep the lead intact.
Instead, a high throw followed, ending up in foul territory in rightfield, which not only enabled Legito to safely reach first base, but also to enable Dille to advance an additional base and end up on third base.
The errors were chastised when Gianison Boekhoudt followed with a 3-run homerun that gave Neptunus an 8-6 lead.
...Gianison Boekhoudt...
...3-run homerun...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
Neptunus then rallied for six more runs in the seventh inning off of Robin Schel.
In this inning, Neptunus inserted another additional batter (so it now had an 11-person batting order).
Dashenko Ricardo led off with a single and Steven Wharwood walked, followed by a runscoring single by Urving Kemp.
A single by Rien Vernooij loaded the bases, then a passed ball, single by Daniel Fernandes, double by Dwayne Kemp and a 2-run single by Raily Legito lifted the lead to 14-6.
Amsterdam got two (unearned) runs back in the bottom of the seventh off of Berry van Driel.
He had taken over the pitching for Neptunus in the sixth, but now ran into problems.
Van Driel gave up a lead-off single to Michael Duursma, then a hit by Gilmer Lampe ended in an outfield-error.
With one out, a walk for pinch-hitter Linoy Croes loaded the bases, then another walk followed for pinch-hitter Koen Nooij, meaning a run was scored.
A force play-grounder by Patrick Bok resulted in another run, but then two runners were left behind.
Neptunus added four more runs in the eighth inning off of Tom de Blok.
With the bases loaded, the first run was scored on a walk for Daniel Fernandes, then Dwayne Kemp followed with a 3-run double, his third double in the game.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, Kevin Kelly retired the side in what was to be the final inning of this game.
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Neptunus wins big after deficit against Amsterdam Pirates
AMSTERDAM (Neth.) -
Curaçao Neptunus trailed 6-2 after the second inning on Saturday (April 9), came back to 6-5, then chastised a 2-out, 2-error play with a 3-run homerun, added ten more runs in the next two innings and went on to win 18-8 in an 8-inning game against L&D Amsterdam Pirates.
Before today, Amsterdam Pirates had given up only 18 runs in its previous nine games, the lowest of all eight big league-teams.
Today, that total was doubled.
