(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by Henk Seppen)
  Netherlands suffers small loss in first exhibition-game in Taiwan; Fransen replaces Farley
Nederlands
 TAICHUNG (Taiwan) -
The Netherlands Baseball Team played its first of two exhibition games in Taiwan on Sunday (March 5), losing 2-1 against Fubon Guardians, which plays in the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL), the professional league in Taiwan.
The Orange Team will play another game on Monday-afternoon.
The games are part of the preparations for the upcoming fifth edition of the World Baseball Classic.
The Netherlands opens the event on Wednesday (March 8) against Cuba.
That game starts at 5 AM Dutch time.
In today's game, three more players made their official debut in the Netherlands Team: pitchers Jayden Estanista and Derek West and outfielder Richie Palacios.
The Orange Team practiced and played in Arizona since February 17, but during the four games played there, Estanista didn't pitch.
West and Palacios joined the team on March 1 when it traveled from Arizona to Taiwan.
Catcher Chadwick Tromp and infielders Xander Bogaerts and Jonathan Schoop then also joined the team.
They were in Major League Spring Training with respectively Atlanta Braves, San Diego Padres and Detroit Tigers.
Tromp was assigned to Gwinnett Stripers, the Triple-A Team of Atlanta on March 1.
Palacios was with the Major League-team of Cleveland Guardians.
West initially was in Minor League-training, but he was added to the Major League-team of Houston Astros on February 26 as an extra pitcher.
He made his Spring Training-debut the next day.
Also on March 1, one change was made to the active roster of the Netherlands Team, as righthanded pitcher Arij Fransen replaced lefthanded pitcher Dylan Farley.
It was reported that Farley was not fit enough and out of precaution, he was replaced.
Coming season, Farley will play in the Dutch big league for Amsterdam Pirates.
Fransen plays professionally in the organization of Cincinnati Reds since 2021.
Fransen already was with the team in Arizona as one of the three added pitchers from the so-called Designated Pitching Pool.
Pitchers from this Pool can replace pitchers on the WBC-roster in case of injuries.
The Netherlands outhit Fubon Guardians 8-6 on Sunday, but was unable to do some scoring, except for one run in the sixth inning.
At Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium in Taichung, the Orange Team got mostly solid pitching, as seven pitchers combined on seven strikeouts and only two walks were issued.
Guardians collected six basehits, including three off of debuting Jaydenn Estanista.
He also gave up a run, as did Derek West, who also made his Orange-debut.
Last season, Fubon Guardians finished in fifth (and last) place in the CPBL with a 46-70 record and four ties.
American lefthander Matthew Kent started for the Taiwanese opponent, where he signed at the end of January.
The 30-year old pitcher played in the Minor Leagues since 2015 for Boston Red Sox through 2021.
Last year, Kent played in Triple-A for Miami Marlins.
Matthew Kent retired the side in the first and second inning, but then got two baserunners in scoring position in the third.
With one out, he gave up a double to Chadwick Tromp and walked Andrelton Simmons.
The two moved on a grounder by Jurickson Profar, but stranded on second and third base, as Kent closed the at bat by striking out Roger Bernadina.
In the fourth inning, the lefthander gave up a lead-off single to Xander Bogaerts.
With one out, Bogaerts was forced out on a grounder by Jonathan Schoop, who moved to second base when an attempt to complete a double play ended in an error.
But he was left behind, as next batter Wladimir Balentien grounded out.
Tromp, Bogaerts and Schoop played in their first game since joining the team on March 1.
Shairon Martis started for the Netherlands and retired the side in the first inning.
In the second, Jaydenn Estanista took over to make his first pitching appearance for the Netherlands.
Estanista plays in the organization of Philadelphia Phillies, where he played in the Rookie League last year.
In his first inning, Estanista gave up a 2-out single to Hai-Wei Shen, but he stranded on first base.
In the next bat, the Guardians-team opened the score off of the righthander.
Pei-Feng Tai led off with a single and moved to second base on a grounder by Tsung-Hsien Lee.
With two outs, Tai scored when Cheng-Tang Wang connected for a double.
Hereafter, Guardians got another baserunner when Estanista hit veteran player Ngayaw Haro with a pitch.
Haro, whose Chinese name is Sheng-Wei Wang and is nicknamed 'Magneto', is 38 years old and plays for Fubon Guardians since last year.
Before that, the short stop played for Elephants since 2008.
But with runners on first and second base, a grounder ended the at bat.
The CPBL-team doubled its lead in the bottom of the fourth off of new pitcher Derek West.
Jin-De Jhang led off with a single and with one out, Kuan-Ting Chang doubled.
West then got the bases loaded when he walked Pei-Feng Tai.
Moments later, the latter was forced out on a grounder by Tsung-Hsien Lee, but that also enable Jhang to score.
Two runners were left behind.
From the fifth inning on, four Orange-relievers gave up five more basehits, but kept Fubon Guardians scoreless.
The Netherlands got another baserunner in the top of the fifth when Chadwick Tromp singled with one out, but two flyouts followed.
...Roger Bernadina...
...homerun...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
Trailing 2-0, the Netherlands scored what would be its lone run in the top of the sixth inning when Roger Bernadina led off with a homerun off of new pitcher Chien-Hsun Chen.
The righthander then gave up a single to Xander Bogaerts, who was 2-for-3.
After reaching first base, Bogaerts was replaced by pinch-runner Ray-Patrick Didder.
Hereafter, Didi Gregorius walked, which led to another pitching change.
Shao-Hua Yueh took over and got flyouts from Jonathan Schoop and Wladimir Balentien.
Yueh got the bases loaded when he walked Richie Palacios, who also made his Orange-debut.
But with three runners on base, no more runs were added, as the inning ended when Chadwick Tromp flied out.
After Mike Bolsenbroek had retired the side in the bottom of the sixth, the Netherlands got the bases loaded again in the seventh off of new pitcher Guan-Xun Chen.
Juremi Profar led off with a single and with one out, Josh Palacios and Ray-Patrick Didder also singled.
They also were left behind, as two flyouts ended the at bat.
Franklin Van Gurp, who succeeded Bolsenbroek, also had a successful outing, as he retired the side in the seventh.
In the eighth, Wendell Floranus became the seventh (and last) Dutch pitcher.
He gave up a lead-off single to Cheng-Tang Wang, then walked Chih-Hsien Chiang with one out.
With two outs Floranus closed with a strikeout.
With the score still only 2-1, Enderson Franco threw the ninth inning for Guardians.
The 30-year old Venezuelan pitched in the Major League in 2019 for San Francisco Giants.
After having played for Lotte Giants in South Korea in 2021, he started the 2022 season in Mexico, then joined Fubon Guardians in June last year.
The righthander retired the side to earn a save.
The following players came into action for the Netherlands:
Jurickson Profar (LF, 0-for-5), Roger Bernadina (CF, 1-for-3), Josh Palacios (CF, 1-for-2), Xander Bogaerts (SS, 2-for-3), Ray-Patrick Didder (PR/SS, 1-for-1), Didi Gregorius (1B, 0-for-2), Sicnarf Loopstok (1B, 0-for-1), Jonathan Schoop (2B, 0-for-3), Sharlon Schoop (2B, 0-for-1), Wladimir Balentien (DH, 0-for-4), Richie Palacios (RF, 0-for-2), Zander Wiel (RF, 0-for-1), Chadwick Tromp (C, 2-for-3), Dashenko Ricardo (C, 0-for-1), Andrelton Simmons (3B, 0-for-1), Juremi Profar (3B, 1-for-2) and pitchers Shairon Martis, Jaydenn Estanista, Derek West, Kevin Kelly, Mike Bolsenbroek, Franklin Van Gurp and Wendell Floranus.
(March 5)
Related Articles:
 Netherlands Team loses last exhibition-game in Arizona. (February 27)
Netherlands Team wins first exhibition-game via homerun-comeback. (February 25)
Netherlands Team suffers big loss in second exhibition-game in Arizona. (February 21)
Netherlands Team opens exhibition-series in Arizona with loss. (February 19)
Roster Netherlands Team announced for World Baseball Classic. (February 10)
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Richie Palacios, Jaydenn Estanista and Derek West make their debut in the Netherlands National Team.