Just after 3 PM, Donny Breek threw his first pitch in a uniform of the Netherlands National Team.
The pitch was high inside to lead-off hitter Pontus Byström, but Breek followed with three strikes to record his first strikeout.
The 19-year old righthander then gave up a single to Swedish/American Joel Johnnson, who grew up in Sweden.
This season, Johnson played in the German Bundesliga for Stuttgart Reds.
Johnson moved on a wild pitch, then Alex Rubanowitz walked, but hereafter Breek was supported with an inning-ending double play.
...Donny Breek had a strong debut...
...He struckout 10 batters in 6 innings...
(© Photo: Screenshot/Marco Stoovelaar) |
The Netherlands faced righthander Jakob Claessen.
He gave up a 2-out single in the first inning to Curt Smith, but he stranded on first base.
After Breek had retired the side (two strikeouts) in the top of the second inning, the Netherlands opened the score moments later.
Sharlon Schoop led off the bottom of the second with a double, then scored on an one-out single by Hendrik Clementina, his first in an Orange-uniform.
With two outs, Clementina was forced out at second base on a grounder by Randolph Oduber, who made his first appearance in the tournament.
Donny Breek felt comfortable since the second inning and also retired the side in the third and fourth inning, striking out two batters in each frame to raise his total to seven.
This season, the righthander completed his second professional season in the organization of the Minnesota Twins.
Like last year, Breek pitched at the Rookie League-level, but he had a fine season.
In ten games (seven starts), Breek was 1-2 with an 0.74 ERA.
In 36 1/3 inning, he struckout 38 batters, walked 19 and gave up 21 basehits.
In the meantime, Swedish pitcher Jakob Claessen also did well and silenced the Orange-offense.
In the third inning, he walked Roger Bernadina with one out, but the Swedish defense then turned a double play on a grounder by Curt Smith.
In the fourth, Sharlon Schoop reached on an infield-hit with one out.
With two outs, he moved to third base on a line drive basehit into centerfield by Hendrik Clementina.
Centerfielder Joel Johnson made a diving catching attempt, but the ball landed in front of him on the grass.
However, two runners stranded, as the inning ended with a force play-grounder from Dwayne Kemp.
Donny Breek continued his dominance on the mound in the top of the fifth when he struckout the side.
In the first four innings, the Dutch hitters were not able to do much on the pitches of Swedish starter Jakob Claessen.
The righthander, who pitched in Germany for Hamburg Stealers in 2016, encountered not much problems.
But in the bottom of the fifth, the Dutch batters had found their rhythm and timing and staged a 4-run rally.
Initially, Claessen retired the first two batters, but the Orange offense then struck with some offensive power.
Roger Bernadina and Curt Smith hit back-to-back-no-doubt-homeruns to raise the lead to 3-0.
Ademar Rifaela then singled and thereafter, it was Sharlon Schoop, who drilled the ball over the rightfield-fence for a homerun to make it a 5-0 score.
That marked the end fot Claessen, who had done well before this inning.
Righthander Ben Johnson took over, but he was greeted with a single off the bat of veteran Yurendell De Caster.
Next batter Hendrik Clementina also connected well, but his line drive was caught by short stop Alex Rubanowitz.
In the top of the sixth, Sweden got its first baserunner on base since the first at bat.
After having retired 13 consecutive batters, Donny Breek gave up a lead-off single to Oscar Jerfsten.
That was it for Sweden, as a flyout and double play followed in what was the lone inning without a strikeout for Breek.
...Sharlon Schoop was 5-for-5 with a homerun...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
In the bottom of the sixth, the Netherlands reached base again, but was unable to score and left runners behind on second and third base.
Dwayne Kemp led off with a single, but was forced out on a grounder by Randolph Oduber, who, due to an injury, was then replaced by pinch-runner Kalian Sams.
He also was forced out, this time on a grounder by Calten Daal.
A run was in the making when Roger Bernadina followed with a double, but a grounder by Curt Smith closed the at bat.
In the top of the seventh, lefthander Diegomar Markwell took over the Dutch pitching.
He succeeded Donny Breek, who had a great outing in his National Team-debut, striking out ten batters and giving up only two basehits in six innings.
Markwell continued the pitching dominance, as he also retired the side, including two strikeouts.
In the bottom of the seventh, the Orange Team appeared to have another productive at bat.
Ademar Rifaela led off with a walk, then Sharlon Schoop singled.
For Schoop, this was his fourth basehit in four at bats.
However, they were left behind, as three flyout followed, including a pop-up infield fly.
In the eighth inning, Shairon Martis took the mound for the Netherlands.
The experienced righthander threw in 26 Major League-games for Washington Nationals (2008-2009) and Minnesota Twins (2013).
Thereafter, he mostly pitched in Independent Leagues.
This season, he played with Curt Smith and Randolph Oduber for Lincoln Saltdogs.
In the opening game of the Netherlands against Great Britain, Martis took over the pitching in the bottom of the seventh inning with a 10-0 lead.
He gave up a run, meaning the game needed an extra inning.
That game was halted due to darkness after eight innings with a 10-2 lead and will be completed on a later date.
Today, Martis retired the Swedish side and also struckout two batters to raise the total for the Dutch pitching for fourteen.
The Netherlands increased its lead in the bottom of the eighth inning with another rally, scoring four runs, but was unable to reach the 10-run difference.
With one out, Calten Daal singled and scored all the way from first on the second double by Roger Bernadina (who had three extra-basehits).
He then scored on a following single by Curt Smith.
Next, John Polonius walked and Sharlon Schoop followed with his fifth basehit in the game.
He also earned his third run batted in, as Smith scored.
Schoop only missed the triple to hit for-the-cycle.
Yurendell De Caster followed with another runscoring single to make it a 9-0 score.
With runners on first and second base, Mikael Fasth took over the Swedish pitching.
He got two pop-flies.
First, Hendrik Clementina connected on the first pitch, which was caught nicely by catcher Oscar Jerfsten in foul territory near the backstop.
Three pitches later, Dwayne Kemp popped out to second base.
Kevin Kelly pitched the ninth inning for the Orange-squad.
He also retired the side and began with the fifteenth Dutch strikeout.
The game ended when a line drive by Pontus Byström was caught by rightfielder Kalian Sams.
And with that, Byström was both the first and last hitter in this game.
Playing for the Netherlands were:
Calten Daal (2B, 1-for-5), Roger Bernadina (CF, 3-for-4), Curt Smith (1B, 3-for-5), Ademar Rifaela (LF, 1-for-3), John Polonius (LF, 0-for-0), Sharlon Schoop (SS, 5-for-5), Yurendell De Caster (DH, 2-for-5), Hendrik Clementina (C, 2-for-5), Dwayne Kemp (3B, 1-for-5), Randolph Oduber (RF, 0-for-3), Kalian Sams (PR/RF, 0-for-1) and pitchers Donny Breek, Diegomar Markwell, Shairon Martis and Kevin Kelly.
|
Strong Netherlands Team shuts out Sweden at European Championship; Fine outings Breek, Schoop
BONN (Germany) -
The Netherlands Baseball Team recovered strongly after suffering a surprise loss against the Czech Republic on Sunday, Day 2 of the 35th European Championship in Germany.
On Monday (September 9), the Orange-squad recorded a convincing 9-0 shutout against Sweden to win its first game of the tournament.
Besides its offense, the team also played good errorless defense after committing five errors the day before against the Czechs.
35th European Baseball Championship.