Japan opened the score with one run in the top of the first inning off of starter Lars Huijer.
The righthander walked lead-off hitter Koki Kajiwara, who then stole second base and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Daisuke Ezaki.
Moments later, Kajiwara scored on a grounder by Ryuma Seki.
Next batter Koki Furutera singled, but was eliminated at second base when he tried to stretch it into a double, as rightfielder Denzel Richardson got the ball in time to short stop Stijn van der Meer.
Huijer retired the side in the second inning.
That at bat began with a great catch by rightfielder Denzel Richardson, who robbed lead-off hitter Masaya Higashimoto of a homerun.
The Dutch offense was retired in order in its first at bat by starter Yusaka Miura.
But in the bottom of the second inning, the Orange-team came alongside when Yurendell De Caster led off with a homerun.
Hereafter, the team got a big scoring opportunity, as it got the bases loaded with one out.
Gilmer Lampe walked and stole second base.
Rodney Daal and Dudley Leonora then also walked to load the bases.
The inning then ended when Stijn van der Meer grounded into a double play.
Japan immediately re-took the lead in the top of the third inning.
With one out, the Asian squad got the bases loaded, but scored only once, thanks to some good defensive plays.
Kota Okumura walked, then both Koki Kajiwara and Daisuke Ezaki reached on a bunt-single.
Ryuma Seki followed with a runscoring single.
On the throw to the plate, Seki overran first base and was eliminated in a rundown.
A grounder ended the inning.
Japan added a run in the fourth.
This time, Masaya Higashimoto and Ryoma Nagashima led off with singles.
With one out, the two moved on a wild pitch, then Higashimoto scored on a grounder by Yoshihiro Nakashima to make it a 3-1 score in favor of Japan.
Lars Huijer retired the side again in the fifth, then got a lead-off grounder in the sixth at bat.
Hereafter, he was relieved by Diegomar Markwell.
With two outs, the lefthander walked Ryoma Nagashima, but he was caught stealing moments later to end the inning.
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...Dwayne Kemp (left) scored three runs for the Netherlands...
...Gilmer Lampe (right) hit a walk-off single...
(© Both Photos: Henk Seppen) |
In the meantime, Japan-starter Yusaka Miura had retired the side in the third, fourth and fifth inning.
But he then gave up the second Dutch run in the bottom of the sixth.
After having retired ten consecutive batters, Miura gave up a lead-off single to Dwayne Kemp, who advanced when a throwing error followed.
Kemp moved to third base on a flyout by Bryan Engelhardt, then scored on a grounder by Sharlon Schoop.
After Diegomar Markwell struckout the lead-off hitter in the seventh, Manager Evert-Jan 't Hoen made another pitching change, as he brought Juan Carlos Sulbaran to the mound.
The righthander retired the next two batters, then was relieved by Jim Ploeger in the eighth.
The lefthander began with a strikeout, then gave up a single to Daisuke Ezaki.
That was followed by another pitching change.
This time, Mike Bolsenbroek took over the Orange pitching and he saw Ezaki steal second base.
Shortly thereafter, Ezaki was caught stealing in a rundown after a pick-off to second base by Bolsenbroek.
The righthander then gave up a single to Ryuma Seki, but he stranded on first base.
After having stranded a runner in the seventh inning, the Netherlands came alongside in the bottom of the eighth inning.
Rikiya Watanabe, who had taken over the Japanese pitching in the previous inning, walked Dwayne Kemp with one out and enabled him to advance to second base with a wild pitch.
Kemp then scored the tying run on a double by Bryan Engelhardt, who made his comeback in the National Team.
Hereafter, Takumi Matsukawa was brought in as new pitcher.
He walked Yurendell De Caster, but then closed with a strikeout.
However, it was now a new ballgame again, as the score was 3-3.
As both teams were retired in order in the ninth, the game went into extra innings.
...Yurendell De Caster (77) is greeted by...
...Dwayne Kemp (7) after the first...
...homered in the 2nd inning...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
In the top of the tenth, Tom Stuifbergen became the new pitcher for the Netherlands and he saw Japan take the lead for the third time, as the team scored two runs on three basehits.
The righthander gave up a lead-off single to Yoshihiro Nakashima, who moved on a sacrifice bunt by Kota Okumura.
He then scored on a double by Koki Kajiwara, who went on to score himself on a 2-out single by Ryuma Seki.
Stuifbergen closed with a strikout, but Japan now led 5-3.
Moments later, Stuifbergen would become the winning pitcher.
The game wasn't over yet, as the Netherlands came from behind and again erased the deficit.
Trailing by two runs, the team scored three runs to win 6-5.
Pinch-hitter Gianison Boekhoudt led off with a double and was replaced by pinch-runner Mark Smit after reaching second base.
Smit (who made his Orange-debut) advanced to third base when next batter Dwayne Kemp also doubled.
The bases then got loaded when Matsukawa hit next batter Bryan Engelhardt with a pitch.
The veteran player was replaced by pinch-runner Delano Selassa (who also made his debut), while Japan went to the bullpen.
Yasuhiro Ukai took over with the bases loaded.
He got a grounder from Sharlon Schoop that moved all runners and so, Smit scored.
With Kemp on third and Selassa on second base, Yurendell DeCaster hit a grounder towards second base.
When that ended in an error, Kemp took off from third base and scored the tying run.
Next, the bases got loaded again when Ukai walked Denzel Richardson.
With only one out, everything was possible.
A double play would send the game into the eleventh inning, but the Dutch Team had a good change to walk off with the win.
And that's what the team did, as next batter Gilmer Lampe hit an 1-1 pitch into centerfield for walk-off single.
Selassa scored and the Netherlands won 6-5.
The following players played for the Netherlands:
Dwayne Kemp (3B, 2-for-4), Bryan Engelhardt (1B, 1-for-4), Delano Selassa (PR, 0-for-0), Sharlon Schoop (2B, 0-for-5), Yurendell De Caster (DH, 1-for-4), Denzel Richardson (RF, 0-for-4), Gilmer Lampe (CF, 2-for-4), Rodney Daal (C, 0-for-3), Dudley Leonora (LF, 0-for-3), Stijn van der Meer (SS, 0-for-3), Gianison Boekhoudt (PH, 1-for-1), Mark Smit (PR, 0-for-0) and pitchers Lars Huijer, Diegomar Markwell, Juan Carlos Sulbaran, Jim Ploeger, Mike Bolsenbroek and Tom Stuifbergen.
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Netherlands comes from behind to win WPT-opener vs. Japan in 10th inning
ROTTERDAM (Neth.) -
The Netherlands Baseball Team opened the 17th edition of the World Port Tournament Baseball on Friday-evening (July 12) with a come-from-behind 6-5 victory against Japan in ten innings.
Several parts of the country were struck by severe thunder- and rain-showers during the day.
This led to some flooded streets in the middle of the country.
It also rain in the Rotterdam-area in the morning, but it cleared and in the evening, the weather (and field) was fine to play.
Japan took the lead for the first time in the first inning, but the Netherlands came alongside in the second.
Japan then re-took the lead in the third at bat and led 3-1 halfway the sixth inning.
Again, the Netherlands was able to come alongside by scoring a run in the sixth and eighth inning to force extra innings.
Opening Game World Port Tournament 2019.