(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Henk Seppen)
      Netherlands also outscores Panama in second game World Baseball Classic
Nederlands
 TAICHUNG (Taiwan) -
The Netherlands (or Team Kingdom of the Netherlands), also recorded a victory in its second game of the fifth edition of the World Baseball Classic.
On Thursday (March 9), the team won 3-1 against Panama, which opened the event on Wednesday-evening with a convincing 12-5 win against Chinese Taipei, the host of this Pool.
On Wednesday-afternoon, the Orange Team won 4-2 in the opening-game of the global event against Cuba.
Today, Xander Bogaerts and Jurickson Profar homered the Netherlands to its second victory of the tournament.
On Thursday-evening, Italy played its first game in Pool A and also defeated Cuba, winning 6-3 in ten innings.
The Netherlands and Italy meet each other in the final game of this Pool.
Also today, the first games were played in Pool B in Tokyo (Japan).
There, Australia opened with a more-or-less surprising 8-7 winn against South Korea.
In the evening, host Japan outscored China 8-1 with Major League-star Shohei Ohtani (Los Angeles Angels) being the winning pitcher.
It marked only the second time that the Netherlands and Panama played against each other during a World Baseball Classic.
The first time was on March 10, 2006 during the First Round of the first edition of the event.
History was written in that game, played as Estadio Hiram Bithorn in Puerto Rican capital San Juan, as 18-year old Orange-pitcher Shairon Martis not only went the distance in a 7-inning, 10-0 mercy-rule victory.
He also threw a No-Hitter, which still is the lone one in WBC-history.
When he returned to the mound in the seventh inning, Martis had thrown 57 pitches.
A maximum of 65 is allowed for starting pitchers in the First Round.
In the seventh, Martis threw only fives pitches to complete the No-Hitter, which ended with a double play after the previous batter had reached on an error.
Today, almost exactly seventeen years later, Shairon Martis, now almost 36 years old, was back on the mound for the Netherlands, again pitching against Panama.
Again, he went on to become the winning pitcher.
The righthander didn't throw the required five complete innings a starting pitcher has to thrown to become eligible for the win.
However, during the World Baseball Classic, as is the case during exhibition games and All-Star Games, this rule is not used as pitchers are limited to a pitch-count, or throw limited innings.
Therefore, when a starting pitcher leaves the mound with a lead and his team stays ahead and wins, he will be credited with the win, whatever total of innings he has pitched.
...Starting pitcher Shairon Martis...
...Winning pitcher (No-Hitter) vs. Panama in 2006...
...Winning pitcher today again against Panama...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
Today, Shairon Martis reached his maximum of 65 pitches with one out in the top of the fourth inning.
The righthander struckout four batters, walked two and gave up three hits, while keeping Panama scoreless.
With the Netherlands leading 1-0, Martis began the fourth with a strikeout, then gave a double and walked the next batter, which was to be his final one.
Mike Bolsenbroek took over and got an inning-ending double play.
The Netherlands hold onto the small lead, added a run in the fifth, scored an insurance run in the eighth and left the field victorious.
And so, Martis again was the winning pitcher.
In the top of the first inning, Shairon Martis gave up a single to Christian Bethancourt Ruiz, who plays in the Major League for Tampa Bay Rays since last season.
The Panamanian catcher earlier played in the Majors for Atlanta Braves (2013-2015), San Diego Padres (2016-2017) and Oakland A's (2022), who traded him to Tampa Bay in July.
In the 2019 season, Bethancourt played in South Korea for NC Dinos.
While playing for Atlanta, Bethancourt was a teammate of Andrelton Simmons.
With Bethancourt on first base, Martis closed with a strikeout.
In the second inning, Martis gave up an one-out double to Luis Castillo, but he stranded on second base.
And in the third, the righthander walked Jonathan Araúz with two outs, but then closed the at bat by striking out Bethancourt.
Araúz played in the Major League for Boston Red Sox (2020-2022) and Baltimore Orioles (2022).
He also has been a teammate of an Orange-player, as he played with Xander Bogaerts while playing for Boston.
The Netherlands offense got into scoring position immediately in its first at bat off of starter Jamie Barría Soto, who since 2018 plays in the Major League and is one of the pitchers of Los Angeles Angels.
There, he primarily is a reliever.
Last year, Barría appeared in 35 games, starting only one.
Barría also is a former teammate of Andrelton Simmons, as both played together for Angels in 2018-2020.
With two outs in the bottom of the first inning, Xander Bogaerts singled and Didi Gregorius walked.
Next batter Jonathan Schoop connected well, but his line drive was caught.
In the second inning, Wladimir Balentien led off with a walk.
Barría then struckout Josh Palacios and a line drive by Andrelton Simmons was caught in centerfield.
With two outs, Chadwick Tromp hit a high pop-fly near the foul-line in leftfield.
There, leftfielder Allen Córdoba Pose appeared to lose the ball in the sun and it dropped to the ground.
In the meantime, Balentien was rounding the bases and running towards home.
Córdoba then made a great throw and Balentien was tagged out by catcher Christian Bethancourt.
The Netherlands challenged the play, but the call by veteran American Major League Umpire Larry Vanover was upheld and so, the inning ended.
The 67-year old Vanover will be active in his 30th season in the Major League this year.
He made his debut in 1991, but didn't umpire in 2000 and 2001.
Vanover was an umpire in two All-Star Games and in the 2016 World Series.
He also was one of the umpires during the 2009 World Baseball Classic.
In the bottom of the third inning, the Netherlands did open the score off of Barría.
Jurickson Profar led off with a single, however, next batter Roger Bernadina grounded into a double play.
But with two outs, Xander Bogaerts connected well and hit a homerun into leftfield to put the Orange Team ahead.
That was immediately followed by a pitching change and Alberto Guerrero took over.
Since 2015, the righthander pitched in the Minor Leagues for Miami Marlins, last season, he pitched in Double-A for Washington Nationals.
Guerrero walked Didi Gregorius, but he was forced out on a grounder by Jonathan Schoop.
...Veteran Rubén Tejada forces out Jurickson Profar...
...in a double play in the 3rd inning...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
In the top of the fourth inning, Shairon Martis began with a strikeout, but he then gave up a double to veteran Rubén Tejada.
The 33-year old short stop played in nine Major League-seasons for New York Mets (2010-2015), St. Louis Cardinals (2016), San Francisco Giants (2016), Baltimore Orioles (2017) and again New York Mets (2019).
Thereafter, he then had Minor League-contracts with Toronto Blue Jays (2020), Philadelphia Phillies (2021) and Chicago White Sox (2021).
Last month, Tejada signed a contract with Long Island Ducks in the USA, which plays in an Independent League.
With Tejada at second base, Martis walked Luis Castillo.
At that moment, Martis had reached his pitch-count of maximum 65.
In the First Round of the tournament, starters have a pitch-count of maximum 65, in the Second Round, that is increased to 80.
Mike Bolsenbroek took over and he got an inning-ending double play-grounder.
In the fifth, it was Bolsenbroek who got a Panamanian runner in scoring position.
With one out, the righthander was supported with a nice defensive play by both short stop Xander Bogaerts and first baseman Did Gregorius on a grounder by Jahdiel Santamaria.
With two outs, Allen Córdoba walked and then stole second base.
Bolsenbroek closed with a strikeout.
After the Orange-offense was retired in order in the fourth, it doubled the lead in the fifth.
Alberto Guerrero began by striking out Chadwick Tromp, but then it was Jurickson Profar, who drove the ball into deep rightfield for a homerun.
And that made it a 2-0 score.
In the top of the sixth inning, Panama also was able to score off of Mike Bolsenbroek.
First, a foul pop-fly was nice caught by Didi Gregorius.
With one out, José Ramos singled.
Ramos, who plays in the Minors for Los Angeles Dodgers since 2019, advanced to third base on a 2-out single by Luis Castillo.
Moments later, Ramos scored on a single by Erasmo Caballero.
But with runners on first and second base, the inning ended with a flyout.
For Panama, this would be it lone run in the game, as three Orange-relievers then pitched three scoreless innings.
In the top of the seventh, Kevin Kelly gave up a 2-out single to Jonathan Araúz, but closed with a strikeout.
...Xander Bogaerts (2) and Jurickson Profar (10)...
...homered the Orange Team to victory...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
In the eighth, Franklin Van Gurp retired the side, but was supported with two fine defensive plays.
Lead-hitter José Ramos drove the ball into deep centerfield.
There, Roger Bernadina made a nice catch with his back against the wall.
With two outs, Luis Castillo hit a soft comeback-grounder to Van Gurp, who made a wide throw, but first baseman Didi Gregorius then made a great play catching the ball while also keeping is foot on the base.
The Netherlands was retired in order in the sixth, then stranded two runners in the seventh off of new pitcher Severino González Cruz, who pitched in the Major League for Philadelphia Phillies in 2015 and 2016.
With one out, Andrelton Simmons singled and advanced on a throwing error.
He then moved to third base on a grounder by Chadwick Tromp.
With two outs and first base open, Jurickson Profar was walked intentionally.
The two runners were left behind, as next batter Roger Bernadina grounded out.
But in the bottom of the eighth inning, the Netherlands added a much-needed insurance run.
New pitcher Alberto Baldonado (14 Major League-games in 2021 with Washington Nationals) gave up a lead-off double to Xander Bogaerts.
He then moved to third base via a sacrifice bunt by Didi Gregorius, then scored on a wild pitch to make it a 3-1 score.
With two outs, Wladimir Balentien singled, but his pinch-runner Ray-Patrick Didder was left behind.
However, the Orange Team had added an important run.
With that, closer Wendell Floranus now took the mound in the top of the ninth inning with a 2-run read.
He got two quick outs, then walked former Minor Leaguer (2013-2019) Rodrigo Orozco, who last year played in an American Independent League.
Next batter Allen Córdoba hit a line drive.
But the ball hit by the former San Diego Padres-player (2017) was caught by short stop and current San Diego-player Xander Bogaerts.
And that earned Floranus his second save in two games.
With that, the game ended with 3-1 win for the Netherlands, which now is in a good position to advance to the Second Round (Quarter Final) in Japan.
On Friday, the Netherlands has the day off.
On Saturday, the team meets Chinese Taipei, which opened with a 12-5 loss against Panama and plays its second game in this Pool on Friday against Italy.
The Netherlands closes Pool A on Sunday against Italy.
The European archrival also won against Cuba in its first game (6-3 in 10 innings).
In the most positive scenario, both the Netherlands and Italy could have secured a spot in the Quarter Finals before they meet each other on Sunday.
But everything is possible in this tournament!
| Netherlands vs. Panama, World Baseball Classic |
| Date | Score | Site |
| March 10, 2006 | 10-0 win (7 inn.) | San Juan (Puerto Rico) |
| March 9, 2023 | 3-1 win | Taichung (Taiwan) |
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For the Netherlands, the following players came into action today:
Jurickson Profar (LF, 2-for-3, homerun, run, RBI, walk), Roger Bernadina (CF, 0-for-4), Xander Bogaerts (SS, 3-for-4, double, homerun, 2 runs, RBI), Didi Gregorius (1B, 0-for-1, 2 walks, strikeout), Jonathan Schoop (2B, 0-for-4), Wladimir Balentien (DH, 1-for-3, walk, 2 strikeouts), Ray-Patrick Didder (PR/DH, 0-for-0), Josh Palacios (RF, 0-for-3, strikeout), Sharlon Schoop (PH/RF, 0-for-1), Andrelton Simmons (3B, 1-for-3, strikeout), Chadwick Tromp (C, 1-for-3, strikeout) and pitchers Shairon Martis, Mike Bolsenbroek, Kevin Kelly, Franklin Van Gurp and Wendell Floranus.
(March 9)
Related Articles:
 Netherlands opens World Baseball Classic with win vs. Cuba. (March 8)
Netherlands closes exhibition-series in Taiwan with loss. (March 6)
Netherlands suffers small loss in exhibition in Taiwan; Fransen replaces Farley. (March 5)
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)
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Roster Netherlands Team announced for World Baseball Classic. (February 10)
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Second game World Baseball Classic 20223.