Dutch right-handed pitcher Rick van den Hurk finally has arrived in Nippon Professional Baseball. After getting called up at the end of last week, he started on Sunday for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks against the Hiroshima Toyo Carp. In six innings he allowed just two runs (1 ER) on six hits, while striking out seven. He got the win in the 7-2 victory. Van den Hurk signed with the Hawks this past winter after playing for the Samsung Lions in the Korea Baseball Organisation in 2013 and 2014. During Spring Training he got injured and after being healthy they didn’t have a spot on the active roster.