It was a rainy day today.
And so, the start of the game was postponed for at least one hour.
Although it appeared at some moments that there would be no game today, the sky cleared up somewhat, it became dry and the field could be made playable again.
One hour and 14 minutes later than scheduled, the game went underway and could be played in its entirety.
It was Twins Oosterhout that opened the score in the top of the first inning off of Pirates-starter Nelmerson Angela with an unearned run.
The lefthander gave up a single to lead-off hitter <>Marnix Ruben, then another one to next batter Terrence Garcia.
Ruben then advanced to third base when Yurdion Martie grounded into a double play.
With two outs, Ruben scored on a passed ball.
Twins-starter Raf Cocu walked lead-off hitter Roelie Henrique in the bottom of the first inning, then also was supported with a double play.
The righthander then gave up the tying run in the second inning.
He walked lead-off hitter Alex Madera, who stole second base moments later and advanced on a grounder by Kenny Berkenbosch.
Madera scored the tying run when Oliver van der Wijst Severino followed with a sacrifice fly.
After the Pirates-defense had turned another double play in the top of the fourth inning, Twins Oosterhout got into scoring position again in the fourth, but failed to score.
Yurdion Martie led off with a single, then Luuk Bun walked.
With two runners on base, Luuk Visser also singled.
Martie overran third base, came in a rundown and was eliminated.
Bun and Visser both advanced during the rundown, but with runners on second and third base, Nelmerson Angela struckout the next batter, then a grounder ended the at bat.
...Duco Nuijten slides into third base in time in the 5th inning...
...3B Railison Bentura is about to receive the ball...
...thrown by pitcher Jan van den Hurk (right)...
...3B Umpire Matthijs Nijhof follows the play...
(© Photo: Marco Stoovelaar (screenshot)) |
Twins took the lead for the second time in the top of the fifth when it scored two more unearned runs.
Angela hit lead-off hitter Onne van Gool with a pitch, but then struckout his cousin Jerzy van Gool.
Next, the lefthander got the bases loaded when he walked Terrence Garcia and made a throwing error himself on a force play-grounder by Terrence Garcia.
With three runners on base, Angela struckout Yurdion Martie, but then gave up a single to Luuk Bun that brought in two runners and made it a 3-1 score.
The Pirates-offense came close to scoring in both the third and fourth inning off of Raf Cocu.
With one out in the third, Cocu walked Roelie Henrique, who then was able to advance from first to third base on a grounder by Duco Nuijten.
But he stranded on third base.
In the fourth inning, the home-team left three runners behind.
Alex Madera led off with a single and Kenny Berkenbosch walked.
After Madera had stolen third base, Oliver van der Wijst flied out.
Moments later, Berkenbosch stole second base and Jorrit Penseel walked to load the bases.
This time, it was Cocu who had a good finish, as he struckout Tieme Nahuis and Jason Jakobus to end the inning.
Trailing 3-1, Pirates rallied for four runs in the bottom of the fifth off of new pitcher Jan van den Hurk.
Two of the runs were unearned.
Roelie Henrique led off with a walk, Duco Nuijten singled and Denzel Richardson followed with a runscoring single.
Next, Alex Madera followed with a perfect bunt towards the left side of the mound.
Van den Hurk fielded the ball and threw it to third baseman Railison Bentura trying to force out Nuijten, but he appeared to slid in safely.
However, 3B Umpire Matthijs Nijhof called Nuijten out, what immediately led to a reaction from Pirates 3B Coach Allan Hazel, as well as Head Coach Mervin Gario.
After the latter had a brief talk with Nijhof, the umpiring crew came together to discuss the play.
After the three umpires had reviewed the situation, Nijhof gave the safe-signal.
That of course led to a reaction from Twins Head Coach Rob Hendriks with Home Plate Umpire (and Crew Chief) Edwin Louisa, who explained why the call had been reversed.
And so, everyone was safe and Pirates had the bases loaded.
Van den Hurk then struckout Kenny Berkenbosch, but also got a sacrifice fly by Oliver van der Wijst into deep centerfield.
That not only enabled Nuijten to score the tying run, but also moved Richardson to third and Madera to second base.
To set up a force play, next batter Jorrit Penseel (who had a 3-1 count) was walked intentionally.
With two outs and three runners on base, Van den Hurk made a pick-off attempt at first base, but the ended up in foul territory in rightfield.
Richardson scored and Madera moved to third base.
Moments later, Madera scored when an error was made on a grounder by Tieme Nahuis.
And that made it a 5-3 score.
...Takuya Fukuda...
(© Photo: Rob Hendriks) |
With Pirates now ahead, Ben Meyer took over the pitching for the home-team in the top of the sixth.
He gave up an one-out double to Railison Bentura, but then struckout the next two batters.
Meyer retired the side in the seventh, beginning with two more strikeouts.
Pirates was retired in order in the sixth, but then added another run in the seventh off of new pitcher Filip Čapka.
The righthander gave up a lead-offf double to Alex Madera, who then stole third base, his third steal of the day.
With one out, Madera scored on a grounder by Oliver van der Wijst.
Pirates came close to another run moments later.
With two outs, Jorrit Penseel walked (which was his fourth walk) and Tieme Nahuis singled.
When next batter Jason Jakobus singled into short centerfield, the other two advanced.
3B Coach Allan Hazel stopped Penseel, but he simply overran third base, suddenly stopped in front of Hazel, turned around and jogged back to the base, probably thinking that the ball had been caught.
However, the ball was underway from centerfielder Marnix Ruben to first baseman Onne van Gool to third baseman Railison Bentura, who simply tagged out Penseel, which ended the at bat.
Twins then narrowed the deficit to 6-4 by scoring in the eighth inning, which was the team's lone earned run.
With one out, Luuk Visser singled and Berend Ruben was hit by a pitch.
Visser then scored on a single by Railison Bentura.
That led to a pitching change.
Maickel Rietel took over, struckout his first batter, then got a force play-grounder that ended the at bat.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, Pirates faced Japanese lefthander Takuya Fukuda, who made his big league-debut.
Fukuda, who had arrived four days earlier, gave up singles to Roelie Henrique and Duco Nuijten, but with runners at the corners, he then struckout reigning league-MVP Denzel Richardson for his first big league-strikeout.
Hereafter, Alex Madera hit a comebacker to Fukuda.
Henrique, who had left third base, had no time to return, tried to get into a rundown, but was tagged out by Fukuda.
A grounder ended the at bat and Pirates left two runners behind.
In the top of the ninth inning, Maickel Rietel got two quick outs.
Hereafter, the righthander hit next batter Yurdion Martie with his sixth delivery.
After having put down his bat and elbow-protection, Martie, who had stepped out of the batter's box when he didn't liked the previous strike-call on a 3-1 count, said something and was ejected by Home Plate Umpire Edwin Louisa.
That was followed by a face-to-face exchange of words between the two.
Matthew Joossens took over as pinch-runner for Martie, but he stranded at first base.
Rietel's third pitch to next batter Luuk Bun ended in a pop-fly that was caught in foul territory by first baseman Jorrit Penseel.
And that also ended the game.
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Amsterdam Pirates strikes in 5th inning to win second game vs. Twins Oosterhout
AMSTERDAM (Neth.) -
Amsterdam Pirates also win its second game against Twins Oosterhout on Saturday (April 22) after a rain-delay of more than one hour.
Pirates trailed 3-2, then struck in the fifth inning with a 4-run rally en route to a small 6-4 victory.
Both teams collected eight basehits today.
Luuk Visser and Railison Bentura both had two basehits for the visitors.
Duco Nuijten and Alex Madera recorded two hits for the home-team.
Game postponed for one hour due to rain and field-conditions.