Game 2 - Netherlands vs. Japan
In today's game, Netherlands Manager Hensley Meulens had made three changes opposed to the first game.
Sharlon Schoop started on second base and Juremi Profar was the third baseman, while Dwayne Kemp played in leftfield.
In the first game, Nick Urbanus, Stijn van der Meer and Randolph Oduber started in these positions.
The Orange squad was off to a productive start today, scoring two runs in both the first and second inning off of starter Kenta Ishida.
In the top of the first inning, Netherlands-starter Diegomar Markwell walked a batter with one out, but retired the next two batters.
The Netherlands, which was the home team in this game, then opened the score moments later.
The first run was scored quickly.
Christopher Garia led off with a walk, then Ishida hit next batter (and Major Leaguer) Jurickson Profar with a pitch.
Yurendell de Caster followed with a runscoring single.
With two outs, Dashenko Ricardo added another RBI-single to make it 2-0.
Japan cut the deficit in half in the second at bat off of Markwell.
The lefthander walked lead-off hitter Yoshitomo Tsutsugoh, then gave up a double to next batter Seiya Suzuki.
With one out, Shota Ohno delivered a runscoring single.
With runners on first and third base, a squeeze-attempt by Japan failed.
Takuya Nakashima turned for a bunt and made contact, while Suzuki approached the plate from third base.
Markwell fielded Nakaskima's bunt in time and threw the ball to catcher Dashenko Ricardo, who was able to tag out Suzuki.
A strikeout then ended the inning and with that, Japan stranded runners on first and second base.
In the bottom of the second inning, the Netherlands again scored twice.
With one out, Dwayne Kemp singled and Christopher Garia doubled.
With two outs, both scored on a double by Yurendell de Caster, who with this now had batted in three of the four Dutch runs.
De Caster was left on second base himself.
In the top of the third, with one out, Markwell hit a batter and walked another, but the Orange-defense then turned a double play.
In the bottom of the third, Ishida struckout the first two batters, then walked Juremi Profar, but he was caught stealing moments later.
In the top of the fourth inning, Juan Carlos Sulbaran took over from Markwell.
With one out, he gave up a homerun to Nobuhiro Matsuda that made it a 4-2 score.
But hereafter, the righthander retired the next two batters.
...Sharlon Schoop...
...3-run homerun...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
The Netherlands added another run in the bottom of the fourth inning and again, Yurendell de Caster was involved.
Off of new pitcher Kazuto Taguchi, Sharlon Schoop and Dwayne Kemp began with singles, then the bases got loaded with one out when Jurickson Profar walked.
Hereafter, Schoop scored the fifth Orange-run on a sacrifice fly by De Caster, who earned his fourth run batted in with this.
Three more runs were then scored in the bottom of the fith inning, this time without De Caster being involved.
Shawn Zarraga led off with a single, then his pinch-runner Dudley Leonora advanced when next batter Dashenko Ricardo walked.
With one out, the two runners moved on a wild pitch, then both scored when Sharlon Schoop homered to lift the lead to 8-2.
After Mike Bolsenbroek had retired the side in the sixth inning, Japan not only came back into the game, it made it a complete new ball game with a 6-rally in the seventh inning off of three new pitchers.
First, Wendell Floranus became the fourth Orange-pitcher.
He was greeted with a lead-off ground-rule double by pinch-hitter Shohei Otani.
He drilled the ball high up in the air, where it not only touched the roof of the Tokyo Dome, but even disappeared in it, which made it a ground-rule double.
Hereafter, Floranus walked Shogo Akiyama with one out and gave up an RBI-double to next batter Ryosuke Kikuchi.
Hereafter, Bayron Cornelisse took over, but he was greeted with a 2-run single by Tetsuto Yamada, then also gave up a single to Akira Nakamura.
A runscoring double by Yoshitomo Tsutsugoh followed with made it an 8-6 score, with still only one out and runners on second and third base.
That brought in Loek van Mil, but he also was greeted with a productive hit, as he gave up a 2-run double to Seiya Suzuki that tied the score at 8-8!
A grounder followed, then Shohei Otani was walked intentionally in his second at bat as pinch-hitter in this inning.
The bases got loaded when Van Mil walked next batter Takuya Nakashima.
The three runners stranded when a grounder ended the at bat, but Japan had come alongside after trailing 8-2!
In the top of the eighth inning, Japan got a chance to take the lead, but stranded three runners.
Loek van Mil struckout the first batter, then Tom de Blok took over the pitching.
After a flyout, he got the bases loaded.
Akira Nakamura doubled, then a force play was set up by walking Yoshitomo Tsutsugoh intentionally, but the bases got loaded when next batter Seiya Suzuki received a normal walk.
But the three runners were left behind when a flyout in leftfield ended the at bat.
In the meantime, the Dutch players were kept off the bases by the Japanese pitching.
After Schoop's homerun in the fifth inning, ten batters were retired in order.
With two outs in the bottom of the eighth, Christopher Garia ended that streak when he singled.
He then stole second base, but was left behind.
As both teams didn't broke the tie score, the game went into extra innings, as it did a day earlier.
In the top of the tenth, with the two tie-break runners on first and second base, Jim Ploeger became the new Orange-pitcher.
A sacrifice bunt-attempt in front of the plate led to the elimination of the lead runner at third base, but the next pitch ended in a wild pitch which put runners on second and third base after all.
Hereafter, the bases got loaded when Ploeger walked Yoshitomo Tsutsugoh and he was then relieved by Kevin Kelly.
He faced Seiya Suzuki, who drilled a 2-2 pitch into leftfield for a grand slam homerun that put Japan ahead 12-8!
Kelly became the fourth pitcher to be greeted with a basehit, three of them runscoring hits.
In the bottom of the tenth inning, Orange tie-break runners Kalian Sams and Nick Urbanus advanced on a wild pitch, then Dashenko Ricardo connected for a runscoring single to bring in Sams.
Reliever Kodai Senga uncorked two more wild pitches, which enabled Urbanus also to score.
But he also struckout three batters to end the game and earn a save.
And with that, Japan registered another come-from-behind victory, this time winning 12-10.
The line-up (and changes) for the Netherlands was as follows:
Christopher Garia (CF, 2-for-4), Jurickson Profar (SS, 0-for-3), Yurendell de Caster (1B, 2-for-4), Kalian Sams (RF, 0-for-5), Shawn Zarraga (DH, 1-for-3), Dudley Leonora (PR-DH, 0-for-1), Nick Urbanus (PH-DH, 0-for-1), Dashenko Ricardo (C, 2-for-4), Juremi Profar (3B, 0-for-3), Stijn van der Meer (PH, 0-for-1), Sharlon Schoop (2B, 2-for-5), Dwayne Kemp (LF, 2-for-3), Gianison Boekhoudt (PH, 0-for-1), Gilmer Lampe (LF, 0-for-1).
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Netherlands ends up losing to Japan in 10 innings after big lead
BUNKYO, TOKYO (Japan) -
The Netherlands Kingdom Team suffered another tough loss on Sunday-evening (November 13), as Samurai Japan registered its second come-from-behind victory in ten innings, this time winning 12-10 in ten innings.
Today, the Orange squad led 8-2 (!) after six innings, but ended up empty-handed again.
In the first six innings, the Netherlands was the better team, but then silenced by the Japanese pitching.
The Netherlands scored twice in the first and second inning, then Sharlon Schoop added a 3-run homerun in the fifth.
Hereafter, the Orange-pitching failed to hold onto the lead.
In the top of the seventh inning, Japan rallied for six runs to come alongside (8-8).
The game, which lasted four hours and 18 minutes, was then decided in the tenth inning when Seiya Suzuki belted a grand slam homerun.
The Orange Team collected eleven basehits, including two by Christopher Garia, Yurendell de Caster, Dashenko Ricardo, Sharlon Schoop and Dwayne Kemp.
Schoop homered and De Caster batted in four runs.
Game Two Netherlands vs. Japan.