Game 1: Japan vs. Netherlands
...The Kyocera Dome Osaka...
(© Photo: KENPEI (Wikimedia Commons)) |
The Netherlands Team was unable to be productive throughout the game off of six Japanese pitchers.
The Orange Team recorded only one basehit and was retired in order in the first three innings.
The lone Dutch basehit was hit in the fifth inning, which also was the lone at bat when an Orange-runner got into scoring-position.
Overall, the Netherlands got only five baserunners.
Samurai Japan collected nine basehits off of six pitchers.
The opening-game of the 2-game series in the Kyocera Dome Osaka was attended by 28,618 spectators.
After Japan-starter Hiroya Miyagi had retired the side in the top of the first, the tone was set moments later.
Shun Mizutani led of for Samurai Japan and he drilled the second delivery of Orange-starter Kevin Kelly into deep centerffield for a homerun.
With one out, it appeared that Japan was en route to another run, as Teruaki Sato singled and next batter Chusei Mannami walked.
The two advanced on a comeback-grounder by Yusuke Ohyama on Kelly's 22nd pitch.
With runners on second and third base, Eric Mendez Matos was inserted as new pitcher for the Netherlands.
He closed the at bat with a strikeout.
Mendez added two strong innings and struckout three more batters, while giving up only one basehit.
He got the lead-off hitter on base in both the second and third inning, but then retired the next three batters.
In the meantime, Hiroya Miyagi retired all nine batters he faced in the three innings he pitched.
Still trailing only 1-0, the Netherlands got three baserunners in the top of the fourth inning off of new pitcher Atsuya Horie, but failed to come alongside or to come into scoring-position, as all runners didn't get beyond first base.
Horie hit lead-off hitter Ray-Patrick Didder with a pitch, which gave the Netherlands its first baserunner.
However, two force play-grounders followed.
Ddider was forced out at second base on a grounder by Didi Gregorius, who then was eliminated on a following grounder by Juremi Profar.
A flyout ended the at bat.
In the bottom of the fourth, Tom de Blok became the new Orange-pitcher.
With one out, he gave up a single, but then was supported with a double play.
In the top of the fifth, off of new pitcher Yuki Hashimoto, the Netherlands got its lone runner in scoring-position, but again was unable to score the tying run.
Veteran Dwayne Kemp led off with a double, which ended the Japanese No-Hitter.
Kemp advanced to third base on a following grounder by Jiandido Tromp.
But hereafter, Hashimoto struckout Delano Selassa and Dayson Croes flied out.
Kemp's double remained the lone Dutch basehit and he also was the lone runner to get into scoring-position.
After Japan had stranded a runner on first base in the bottom of the fifth, the Netherlands got its fifth (and ffinal) baserunner in the top of the sixth.
New pitcher Tatsuya Imai walked Ray-Patrick Didder with one out, but he stranded on first base.
Japan then took more distance in the bottom of the sixth by scoring twice off of Tom de Blok.
The righthander gave up a lead-off double to Chusei Mannami, then walked Yusuke Ohyama.
De Blok followed with a strikeout, but hereafter Mannami's pinch-runner Koki Kajiwara and Ohyama executed a double-steal.
Moments later, De Blok got the bases loaded when he walked Naoki Yoshikawa.
Next, Kajiwara was forced out at the plate on a grounder towards third base, but Akito Takabe then followed with a 2-run single.
That gave Japan a 3-0 lead and also led to a pitching change.
Wendell Floranus took over and got an inning-ending grounder.
In the seventh inning, both the Netherlands and Japan were retired in order.
After the Orange-side was retired again in the top of the eighth, Japan added two more runs off of new pitcher Ryan Huntington in the bottom of the eighth.
The lefthander gave up a lead-off single to Ryuta Hirose, who then moved into scoring-position via a wild pitch and scored on a following single by Seiya Hosokawa.
With one out, Huntington gave up a runscoring double to Takashi Umino, which increased the lead to 5-0.
After a grounder accounted for the second out, Pim Vijfvinkel took over the Orange-pitching.
On his fifth delivery, he got an inning-ending grounder.
In the top of the ninth, closer Hayato Tsunehiro took the mound for Samurai Japan.
He retired the side, getting flyouts in the outfield, which ended the game.
With that, the Netherlands was retired in both the first three innings, as well as the last three.
Since the sixth inning, the final eleven Orange-batters were retired in order.
Playing for the Netherlands in this game were:
Ray-Patrick Didder (2B, 0-for-2, walk, hit by pitch, strikeout), Didi Gregorius (SS, 0-for-4), Juremi Profar (3B, 0-for-3, strikeout), Shervyen Newton (PH, 0-for-1), Eugene Helder (1B, 0-for-3, strikeout), Dwayne Kemp (LF, 1-for-3, double, strikeout), Jiandido Tromp (CF, 0-for-3, strikeout), Delano Selassa (RF, 0-for-2, 2 strikeouts), Rushenten Tomsjansen (PH/RF, 0-for-1, strikeout), Dayson Croes (DH, 0-for-3, strikeout), Jair van Borkulo (C, 0-for-3, 2 strikeouts) and pitchers Kevin Kelly, Eric Mendez Matos, Tom de Blok, Wendell Floranus, Ryan Huntington and Pim Vijfvinkel.
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Japan shuts out & one-hits Netherlands Team in opener Samurai Series
OSAKA (Japan) -
The Netherlands Baseball Team was shutout 5-0 by the Samurai Japan Team on Wednesday (March 5) in the opener of the 2-game RAXUS Samurai Japan Series in Osaka.
The Netherlands Kingdom Team not only was unable to score, it was also limited to only one basehit and got only one runner in scoring position.
The two teams will meet again on Thursday.
On Saturday (March 1), the Netherlands Team traveled to Japan with a group of 28 players, seven coaches and a supporting staff of three.
They were accompanied by four other KNBSB-representatives.
The roster was announced a week ago.
Back in 2016, the games were played in the Tōkyō Dōmu in Tokyo.
This time, the games are played in the Kyōcera Dōmu Ōsaka, which is located in Chiyozaki, which is part of Nishi-ku, one of the 24 wards of Osaka in the Osaka Prefecture.
Also situated in this ward is Universal Studios Japan.
The Osaka Dome opened in March 1997 as the new home of NPB-club Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes, which merged with Orix BlueWave - another NPB-team - in 2005 and continued under the new name Orix Buffaloes.
Since 2005, the new club uses the Osaka Dome as one of its home-sites.
The team plays in both the Osaka Dome, as the original home of the Buffaloes, and the Kobe Sports Park Baseball Stadium (Kōbe Sōgō-Undō-Kōen Yakyūjō) in nearby Kobe, the former home of the BlueWave.
The Osaka Dome is also used by Hanshin Tigers.
This team plays its season-openers in Osaka, as well as their home-games in August when its own Koshien Stadium (Hanshin Kōshien Kyūjō) in Nishinomiya (near Kobe) is used for the annual National High School Baseball Tournaments.
Koshien Stadium opened in 1924 and was specially built for these High School Championships.
From 2006 on, the Osaka Dome added the name Kyocera, which has been an advertiser since 2003 (Kyocera Document Solutions).
Kyocera Corporation was offered the naming rights for the stadium in early 2006.
The Dome has a capacity of more than 36,600 for baseball and 55,000 for events.
Umpires: HP-, 1B-, 2B-, 3B-.
Game 1 - RAXUS Samurai Japan Series 2025.