Tonight's game wasn't the best of games, as sometimes both teams appeared to play somewhat nochalantly.
Yes, there were some nice defensive plays, but there also were some baserunning mistakes, some unnecessary errors and the game initially was very slowplaced.
It took 22 minutes to complete the first inning.
From the fourth inning on, the pace sped up somewhat and the game even appeared to end after some 2½ hours, around 10 PM.
But then Neptunus came alongside and forced extra innings.
Pirates went on to score the deciding run in the eleventh inning.
In all best-of-series, there is no curfew-rule and a tie also is not possible.
In the regular season, no new inning will begin in evening-games after 10:30 PM.
Also, tie scores are possible, as games end after a maximum of twelve innings.
And so, tonight this opener went beyond the 10:30 PM curfew-time and took three hours and 38 minutes to complete, ending at 11:08 PM.
Not much really happened in tonight's game.
Pirates rallied for three runs in the first inning, Neptunus did the same, but in the ninth inning.
Oh, and there was an ejection.
The highlight of tonight's game?
That has to be the performance by Pirates-starter Scott Prins, who threw eight strong innings, silenced the Neptunus-offense and deserved to be the winning pitcher.
Unfortunately, he ended up with a no-decision, as two relievers failed to hold the lead in the ninth.
Prins struckout only two batters, walked none, but his defense suppported him well.
...Scott Prins...
...eight strong innings...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
Amsterdam Pirates opened the score with three runs in the bottom of the first inning off of Juan Carlos Sulbaran.
A week ago, the righthander started in the opener against Twins Oosterhout and then left the game after one inning with an apparent injury.
But tonight, he was back on the mound in what was a slow and long first at bat in which the first five batters of the home-team reached base safely.
Pirates got the bases loaded quickly, thanks to Rachid Engelhardt (single), Delano Selassa (walk) and Denzel Richardson (single).
The first run was then scored on a following single by Sharlon Schoop, the second one when next batter Sicnarf Loopstok walked.
Sulbaran then got Kalian Sams on a called third strike, but Tommy van de Sanden followed with a sacrifice fly that made it a 3-0 score.
With two outs and still two runners on base, Sulbaran closed with another strikeout, this time for Emilson Haswell.
And that was to be it until the top of the ninth.
Pirates got opportunities to take some more distance, but left seven runners behind in the next seven at bats.
Five of them in scoring position.
In the second inning, Roelie Henrique led off with a double, but later stranded on third base.
In the third, it was Sicnarf Loopstok, who led off with a rare single.
He hit a huge pop-fly, which appeared to be caught by first baseman Sheadion Jamanika.
However, he misjudged the ball, which dropped behind him and as there was no one to cover him, Loopstok ended up on first base with this infield-hit.
But he was left behind on second base.
Pirates got its next runner in scoring position in the bottom of the fourth, which also led to an ejection.
Roelie Henrique led off with a walk.
With an 0-1 count on next batter Rachid Engelhardt, Neptunus-starter Juan Carlos Sulbaran appeared to make a pick-off attempt to first base, but didn't throw the ball.
A balk was called and Henrique was awarded second base.
However, several Neptunus-infielders, as well as Head Coach Raily Legito and Pitching Coach Diegomar Markwell argued that Sulbaran had stepped off the plate before stopping to make the throw.
The umpiring crew came together, but the balk-call was upheld and so, Henrique was at second base.
When the game resumed, Sulbaran then made a pick-off attempt to second base and got in a renewed discussion with 1B Umpire Edson Louisa, regarding the earlier balk-call.
During this discussion, Louisa ejected Sulbaran.
And so, Misja Harcksen entered the game with an 0-1 count on Engelhardt.
After hitting a foul ball, Engelhardt grounded to short stop John Polonius, but Henrique took off from second base and was eliminated at third base.
Engelhardt also stranded on second base.
In the fifth, Sharlon Schoop led off with a single, but a double play followed that began with a nice play by second baseman Dwayne Kemp on a hard grounder.
Kalian Sams then walked, stole second and advanced on a throwing error from catcher Dashenko Ricardo, but was left behind on third base.
In the sixth inning, the Neptunus-defense turned another double play when Kemp made a nice catch on a line drive by Rachid Engelhardt, then eliminated a runner at first base.
In the seventh, Delano Selassa led off with a walk, but was caught stealing.
In the eighth, it was Kalian Sams who led off with a walk, but this time, he was left behind on second base.
In the meantime, the Neptunus-offense was silenced by righthander Scott Prins, who had a strong outing.
In the first six innings, he gave up only three basehits.
Neptunus added two more basehits in the next two at bats to make it five.
In the first eight innings, Neptunus left three runners behind in scoring position.
After being retired in order in the first inning and trailing 3-0, Neptunus got a chance to do something back in its second at bat.
Roger Bernadina led off with a double and moved to third base on an one-out infield-hit by Christian Diaz.
What then should have been an out at either second or first base led to the elimination of the lead runner at third base.
Dashenko Ricardo grounded to third baseman Emilson Haswell.
Bernadina was off third base, was too late to return, then tried to run towards the plate, but the former Major Leaguer was tagged out.
Diaz and Ricardo later were left behind.
Prins retired the side again in the third and fourth inning.
And he appeared to do so again in the fifth.
After having retired nine consecutive batters in a row and with two outs in the fifth, Prins got a fly ball from Sheadion Jamanika.
However, centerfielder Roelie Henrique dropped the ball and Jamanika ended up on second base.
He then advanced to third base on a wild pitch, but also was left behind.
In the sixth, the Pirates-defense made another error.
Stijn van der Meer led off with a single.
With two outs, it was third baseman Emilson Haswell who made a throwing error on a grounder by Roger Bernadina, which led to runners at the corners.
Again, Scott Prins avoided giving up runs, as a flyout ended the at bat.
...Sicnarf Loopstok...
...walk-off single...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
In both the seventh and eighth inning, Neptunus got a baserunner with two outs, but they both stranded on first base.
And so, the top of the ninth began with a 3-0 lead for Pirates, which was three outs away from wrapping up the game.
But things turned out differently.
Scott Prins returned to the mound for Pirates to start his ninth inning, having thrown 105 pitches in the previous eight.
Dwayne Kemp led off with a single, then moved to third base when next batter Christian Diaz also singled.
With runners at the corners, Jelle van der Lelie then took over the Pirates-pitching.
He saw Diaz steal second base, then struckout Dashenko Ricardo, but thereafter, Van der Lelie gave up a 2-run single to Sheadion Jamanika that narrowed the deficit to 3-2.
Jamanika was forced out on a grounder by Greg Muller, then a new pitching change followed.
Closer Mike Groen took over, while Raydley Legito was inserted as pinch-runner at first base for Muller.
Moments later, Legito stole second base and next batter Stijn van der Meer walked.
Jiandido Tromp followed with a single into leftfield.
Legito raced home from second base, but Van der Meer tried to advance to third base, where he was tagged out on the throw from leftfield.
However, as this was a time-play, Legito had crossed home plate in time before Van der Meer was tagged out and so, he score the tying run.
With that, Scott Prins ended up with a no-decision, as the score was now 3-3.
In the bottom of the ninth, Rachid Engelhardt led off with a single.
Kevin Kelly then took over the pitching for Neptunus.
The righthander began with a strikeout, then got a strikeout-caught stealing double play, which ended the at bat.
With that, the game went into extra innings.
Neptunus was retired in order in the top of the tenth by Mike Groen.
Pirates got another runner in scoring position.
With two outs, Kalian Sams walked and stole second base.
With first base open, Tommy van de Sanden was walked intentionally to set up a force play.
That worked, as Van de Sanden was forced out at second base on a grounder by Emilson Haswell, who went after the first pitch he saw from Kevin Kelly.
In the top of the eleventh, Naut Kragt took the mound for Pirates and also retired the side.
In the bottom of the eleventh, Kevin Kelly pitched again for Neptunus, but this time, Pirates would decide the outcome.
Roelie Henrique led off with a single and was moved into scoring position via a sacrifice bunt by Rachid Engelhardt.
Again, a force play was created.
This time by walking Delano Selassa.
The force play-grounder indeed came from next batter Kenny Berkenbosch (who had entered the game in the top of the ninth).
But it also moved Henrique to third base.
With runners at first and third base, another force play was set up by walking Sharlon Schoop intentionally, which loaded the bases.
But this time, the strategy didn't work for Neptunus, as next batter Sicnarf Loopstok hit a line drive into centerfield for a walk-off single.
That brought in Henrique and Pirates won 4-3.
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Amsterdam Pirates strikes early, but wins Wild Card-opener vs. Neptunus in 11th inning
AMSTERDAM (Neth.) -
L&D Amsterdam Pirates took an early 3-0 lead on Thursday-evening (August 11) in the opener of the best-of-three Wild Card Top Series against Curaçao Neptunus, which came alongside in the ninth.
Pirates then struck again, this time in the eleventh inning to win 4-3.
Last weekend, the regular season ended with the final 3-game series in the Top-4 Pool.
In the opener of that series against HCAW, Amsterdam Pirates became the first team to secure a spot in the Wild Card Top Series.
Besides that, the team finished in first place to also qualify for next years European Champions Cup-tournament.
Two days later, Neptunus finished in second place to become the second team to reach the Top Series.
Juan Carlos Sulbaran (Neptunus) ejected in bottom 4th inning by 1B Umpire Edson Louisa for making remarks after a balk-call.