Neptunus opened the score with two runs in the top of the first inning, then rallied for six runs in the fifth off of starter Kevin Heijstek, who didn't have a good afternoon on the mound.
The reason for that might have been the long delay before the game finally went underway.
The righthander remained unbeaten throughout the regular season (8-0) and the Championship Pool (5-0), but today suffered his first loss.
In his 18th start of the season, Heijstek did strikeout five hitters, but he also gave up seven basehits and eight runs (six earned).
Besides that, he committed two throwing errors on a bunt.
With one out in the top of the first inning, Benjamin Dille turned for a bunt back to Heijstek.
It was clear that the Belgian player would reach safely on a bunt-single, but nevertheless, Heijstek threw the ball.
That ended in an error, enabling Dille to advance to second base.
For the first time since several games, Dille batted again in his familiar number two position of the batting order.
Moments later, Dille scored the first run for Neptunus when Gianison Boekhoudt homered.
The catcher led the regular season with eight homeruns, then led the Championship Pool with four.
Of his 12 homeruns, he hit only one against Amsterdam Pirates, which he did on April 23 in the third game of the season between the two teams.
Today, he hit his second homerun off of an Amsterdam-pitcher and that gave Neptunus an early lead, which proved to be decisive.
In the sixth inning, Boekhoudt homered again.
Heijstek recovered somewhat after the first inning.
He gave up a lead-off double to Shaldimar Daantji in the second at bat, but then retired the next three batters.
With one out in the third inning, Heijstek gave up a single to Benjamin Dille, but the Amsterdam-defense then turned a double play.
He retired the side in the fourth.
However, in the top of the fifth inning, Neptunus rallied for six runs to make it an 8-0 score and put the game pretty much out of reach for the home team.
The first five Neptunian hitters reached base safely in the fifth inning.
Ruar Verkerk led off with a walk, then Daniel Fernandes singled and everyone was safe on a fielder's choice-sacrifice bunt by Jochem Koedijk, which loaded the bases.
Stijn van der Meer followed with a 2-run single to double the lead.
Hereafter, Heijstek made another throwing error on a bunt by Benjamin Dille.
This time, the ball ended up in foul territory in rightfield, resulting in two runs and enabling Dille to move to second base.
After a flyout, Dille scored on a single by Dwayne Kemp, who later scored the sixth run in the inning on a wild pitch to lift the lead to 8-0!
...Gianison Boekhoudt hit two homeruns for Neptunus...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
Neptunus added four more runs in the sixth inning off of two relievers.
Dennis Burgersdijk took over from Heijstek, but was greeted with a lead-off double by Ruar Verkerk, who went on to score on an one-out single by Jochem Koedijk.
With two outs, Benjamin Dille delivered runscoring single (he was 3-for-3).
That brought Koedijk across the plate and brought in Nick Veltkamp as new pitcher.
The lefthander faced Gianison Boekhoudt, who then belted his second homerun of the afternoon, making it a 12-0 score!
With that, Boekhoudt became the first Neptunus-player to hit two homeruns in a Holland Series-game.
Only six times earlier, a player had had a multi-homerun game in the Holland Series.
The last was Bryan Engelhardt, who homered twice on September 19, 2015 while playing for Kinheim against Neptunus.
And what did Amsterdam Pirates do this afternoon?
To be honest, not much!
The team was limited to only two basehits by Orlando Yntema, who went the distance for Neptunus.
The righthander had three stikeouts (all on Kenny Berkenbosch) and saw Amsterdam get into scoring position only once.
Yntema retired the first ten batters he faced.
With one out in the bottom of the third, he walked Zerzinho Croes, then gave up a 2-out single to Kalian Sams.
However, a force out ended the at, leaving Croes behind in scoring position.
The basehit by Sams appeared to be Amsterdam's lone basehit this afternoon.
From the fifth inning on, Yntema retired eight more consecutive batters, but then gave up a 2-out single to Gilmer Lampe in the bottom of the seventh.
The righthander then closed the game with his third strikeout and needed only 81 pitches today.
For Amsterdam, this was a game to erase quickly to focus on Game 3 on Sunday in Rotterdam.
Today's 10-run difference score was the first in a Holland Series since September 28, 2014.
Back then, Amsterdam Pirates recorded a 17-7 win against Neptunus in a 9-inning game.
Overall, it was only the 16th 10-run difference victory in Holland Series-history, which began in 1987.
The 12-0 shutout was the biggest shutout-win in a Holland Series since August 20, 2009.
Back then, Neptunus shutout Hoofddorp Pioniers 16-0 in 6½ inning in the opener of the Series.
A year earlier, on October 8, 2008, it was Amsterdam Pirates that shutout Kinheim 12-0 in seven innings.
With that, Amsterdam completed a 3-game sweep in what was then a best-of-five to win the Championship-title.
For-the-record, in both the 2008 game and today, Olav Steijger was the Home Plate Umpire.
He was at third base in the 2009 game.
It was only the seventh shutout-win in history in which a team scored 10 or more runs.
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Neptunus records big shutout-win in second game Holland Series
AMSTERDAM (Neth.) -
Curaçao Neptunus shutout L&D Amsterdam Pirates 12-0 in seven innings in Game 2 of the 30th Holland Series on Saturday (September 30) to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven Final.
The very lopsided game began two hours and ten minutes later than scheduled due to maintenance of the field after rain.
For Amsterdam, this was its biggest loss in its 35 Holland Series-games.
Game Two, best-of-seven Holland Series 2017.