As expected, righthanders Orlando Yntema and Kevin Heijstek were the starting pitchers tonight for respectively Neptunus and Amsterdam Pirates.
They accounted for an interesting pitching-duel in a game that was a 9-inning thriller.
For tonight's game, Neptunus Head Coach Ronald Jaarsma has adjusted both his batting order, as well as the alignment of the infield, as opposed to the previous four games.
Leftfielder Coco Johnson was still the lead-off hitter, but Stijn van der Meer, who had been hitting in second position, batted eighth tonight.
From the third spot on, all players moved up one spot in the batting order.
Defensively, Jaarsma used an infield alignment he already had used several times during the regular season.
Benjamin Dille started at first base, Dwayne Kemp at second base, Dudley Leonora at short and Stijn van der Meer at third base.
In the previous games, Dille was at second, Kemp at third, Leonora at first and Van der Meer at short.
...Winning pitcher Kevin Heijstek...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
Amsterdam Pirates Head Coach Brian Finnegan had made some changes to his batting order prior to last Tuesday's game, but made another change for tonight's game.
Roelie Henrique, who had been the lead-off hitter and designated hitter in the first three games, moved to the ninth spot in the batting order and played in leftfield.
Gilmer Lampe moved up from the third spot to the lead-off position and moved from leftfield to centerfield.
Sharlon Schoop remained batting in second place, but the next three batters all moved up one spot.
Kalian Sams, who was the rightfielder in the first three games, was the DH on Tuesday.
Tonight, Finnegan used almost the same batting order and line-up as on Tuesday.
However, Sams was not in the starting line-up, as Linoy Croes was the designated hitter.
In the batting order, Finnegan moved up Kenny Berkenbosch to the clean-up spot (fourth), while Croes batted fifth.
Croes had not started in the previous four games and was used three times as a pinch-hitter.
Sams, who joined Pirates a week before the start of the Holland Series, batted .200 (3-for-15) in the previous four games.
He scored no runs and batted in two.
Last Tuesday, Sams was 0-for-3, but batted in the tying run.
Croes replaced him as pinch-hitter, then designated hitter in the seventh inning.
In the regular season, Croes was the third best hitter of Pirates, hitting .283 (34-for-120) with five doubles, two tripled and one homerun.
He scored 28 runs and batted in 16, while stealing 11 bases.
It was Pirates that reached base first, as Sharlon Schoop walked with one out.
He moved on a grounder, but stranded on second base.
Heijstek retired the side in his first inning.
In the top of the second inning, Amsterdam Pirates opened the score off of Orlando Yntema.
With two outs, Max Clarijs doubled and scored on a following single by Delano Selassa.
The latter moved into scoring position after a passed ball, but then was left behind.
In the bottom of the second inning, Neptunus got its first baserunners off of Kevin Heijstek.
With two outs, Quintin De Cuba reached on a bunt-single, then Benjamin Dille singled.
The inning ended when Stijn van der Meer fouled out.
Neptunus got its next runner in scoring position in the bottom of the fourth inning.
With two outs, Shaldimar Daantji hit a ground-rule double, but a flyout by Quintin De Cuba ended the at bat.
Amsterdam Pirates then got a scoring opportunity in the top of the fifth, as it got two runners with one out.
Delano Selassa led off with an infield-hit.
An attempt for a sacrifice bunt by Roelie Henrique was unsuccessful, as Selassa was forced out on second base.
Next, Henrique was awarded second base on a balk, then Gilmer Lampe walked.
Moments later, Henrique advanced to third base when Sharlon Schoop flied out.
Hereafter, Pirates got runners on second and third base when Lampe stole second base, but the two were left behind, as the inning ended when Denzel Richardson flied out.
...Gilmer Lampe decided the game with a homerun...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
In the bottom of the sixth, it was Neptunus that had two baserunners with one out.
Lead-off hitter Benjamin Dille reached on an error, then moved on a sacrifice bunt by Stijn van der Meer.
Jochem Koedijk, who started at rightfielder tonight, then became the second runner when he walked.
But hereafter, Dille was forced out on third base on a grounder by Coco Johnson, then the inning ended when Kevin Heijstek struckout Dwayne Kemp.
In the top of the seventh, Max Clarijs led off with a single for Pirates, but was caught stealing moments later.
Hereafter, Orlando Yntema struckout the next two batters.
Neptunus came alongside in the bottom of the seventh, scoring an unearned run.
Lead-off hitter Quintin De Cuba reached on an error from second baseman Delano Selassa, moved on a sacrifice bunt by Benjamin Dille and scored on a following single by Stijn van der Meer.
Heijstek then struckout Jochem Koedijk and got an inning-ending force play-grounder from Coco Johnson.
Amsterdam Pirates immediately got back on top when Gilmer Lampe led off the eighth inning with a homerun.
With a 2-1 lead, Mike Groen took over the Amsterdam-pitching in the bottom of the eighth inning.
Last Tuesday, the righthander took over the pitching after the long rain-delay, threw 4 2/3 inning and retired the last 14 batters in the game.
Groen now began by striking out Dwayne Kemp, then got a flyout from Gianison Boekhoudt.
But hereafter, a rare interruption followed.
With an 1-0 count on Dudley Leonora, a group of some seven geese landed in leftfield.
Umpires Winfried Berkvens (2B) and René Ras (3B) and Neptunus Head Coach Ronald Jaarsma (who coaches at third base himself) tried to chase the geese away.
The geese left after some four minutes and after the game, resumed Groen gave up a single to Dudley Leonora three pitches later.
That was followed by a fielding error from leftfielder Roelie Henrique, which brought Leonora to second base.
Pirates immediately went to the bullpen and summoned hardthrowing closer Tom Stuifbergen to the mound.
He got an inning-ending grounder from Shaldimar Daantji.
A suspenseful ninth inning followed.
In the top of the ninth inning, Berry van Driel took over the Neptunian pitching.
He struckout Linoy Croes, but then walked Rashid Gerard and Max Clarijs.
With that, Pirates got an opportunity to add an insurance run.
Neptunus also went to the bullpen, as Kevin Kelly was brought in.
Last Tuesday, the righthander was hit hard on hit leg by the top of the broken bat on a grounder by Kalian Sams that brought in the tying run.
Kelly stayed in the game, but on his next delivery, he gave up a 3-run homerun to Kenny Berkenbosch that gave Pirates a 5-2 lead.
As his leg stiffened up, Kelly didn't return in the next inning.
Tonight, he was back on the mound.
With runners on first and second base, Kelly struckout Delano Selassa, then got a force play-grounder from Roelie Henrique.
In the bottom of the ninth, Tom Stuifbergen got two quick outs.
He first struckout Quintin De Cuba, then got a grounder from Benjamin Dille.
Hereafter, Stuifbergen walked Stijn van der Meer.
After reaching first base, he was replaced by pinch-runner Kai Burema, while Greg Muller was inserted as pinch-hitter for Jochem Koedijk.
On the second delivery from Stuifbergen, Muller grounded to second baseman Niels van Weert (who had taken over this inning), who forced out Burema at second base to end the game.
And with that, Amsterdam Pirates forced another game in this exciting Holland Series!
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Amsterdam Pirates forces sixth game by nipping Neptunus in Game 5 Holland Series
ROTTERDAM (Neth.) -
L&D Amsterdam Pirates has forced another game in the best-of-seven Holland Series against Curaçao Neptunus by winning 2-1 in Game 5 on Thursday-evening (August 29).
With the win, Amsterdam narrowed the deficit in the Championship Series to 3-2 and forced a sixth game that will be played coming Saturday in Amsterdam.
Tonight, Amsterdam took an early 1-0 lead in the second inning, then Neptunus came alongside after an error in the seventh.
Amsterdam immediately re-took the lead when Gilmer Lampe led off the eighth inning with a homerun.
Game 5, best-of-seven Holland Series.