Group A: Russia – Great Britain
Great Britain 220 000 010 5 9 1 Russia 000 006 50X 11 13 2
Russia came back from a 0-4 deficit to beat Great Britain 11-5 on Tuesday morning in a Group A matchup at the European Championship in Hoofddorp. For Russia it was their first win in five games, while Great Britain dropped to 0-5. Both teams will fight for relegation in the consolation round starting on Thursday.
The British team had a perfect start into the match. A pair of bases loaded walks in the first by Brett Rosen and Maikel Azquy gave them a 2-0 lead in the first. A wild pitch and a RBI single by Sam Wiley doubled the lead in the second. Meanwhile Nate Thomas was dealing by throwing five scoreless innings of four-hit, four-walk ball to keep Russia in check.
However a pair of pitching changes altered the course of the game. First Russia removed starter Petr Balan from the mound after the second. Reliever Denis Leonov dominated with 11 strikeouts in the remaining seven innings, while issuing just six hits, a run and three walks. And then secondly Great Britain brought in Matt Maitland in the sixth and Russia’s Daniil Khomyakov promptly greeted him with a solo home run to lead off a six-run rally.
A two-run single by Artemiy Artamonov and a two-run triple by Nikita Monakhov further highlighted the big inning and put Russia in front. One frame later they put the final nail into the coffin when they scored five more runs for an 11-4 lead. Artamonov had another two-run single, as he drove in four total in the game. Great Britain would score once more in the eighth through a RBI fielder’s choice by Azquy, but it was too little too late to initiate comeback.