World Baseball Classic Pool two, Round two: Venezuela – Netherlands 3-1
NED 010 000 000 1 6 0 VEN 100 100 01X 3 3 2
The Dutch team missed out on another surprise in the round-two opener of the 2009 World Baseball Classic against Venezuela. At the Dolphin Stadium in Miami, the team of manager Luis Sojo scrapped out a 3-1 victory over the Netherlands. The European squad actually out-hit the Major League filled team 6-3 and even had a chance to win. Holland will return to the field on Sunday, taking on the loser of tonight’s matchup between Team USA and Puerto Rico. Venezuela plays the winner on Monday.
Venezuela had a quick start into the match, taking a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first with Endy Chavez leading off with a triple to center field and scoring on a groundout by Melvin Mora. But as several times before in the World Baseball Classic, the Dutch wasn’t shocked at all and evened the score one frame later.
Yurendell de Caster reached on an error by shortstop Cesar Izturis to start the second inning. However Izturis made up for the mistake moments later, easily throwing out De Caster at the plate, trying to score from first on a double by Bryan Engelhardt. But they tied it anyway, as Engelhardt scored on Vince Rooi’s groundball single through the middle.
After the rough beginning, Dutch pitching settled in, but Venezuela made the few hits count. Miguel Cabrera smacked a high fastball by Sidney Ponson over the fence in the fourth to regain the lead. Jose Lopez delivered some insurance in the eighth with a homerun to left field. A few minutes earlier an error by Lopez made things interesting, as the miscue on a routine groundball by Sharlon Schoop put runners on first and second with one out. Eugene Kingsale popped and Sharnol Adriana grounded out to end the threat.
Ponson (L 0-1) had another nice outing for the Netherlands, going five innings, allowing just two hits, two runs and a walk, while striking out three. Rob Cordemans followed with two perfect frames, striking out three, before Dennis Neuman gave up the third Venezuelan run. Alex Smit closed it out on the Dutch side with a scoreless period.
Carlos Silva (W 1-0) used the sometimes too aggressive approach by the Dutch hitters for his advantage, going seven effective innings, inducing one run on four hits, striking out four. Yoel Hernandez and Carlos Vazquez each got one out, before Sojo brought in closer Francisco Rodriguez for a four-out save, striking out two.
Don’t trying to take anything away from another nice performance by the Dutch National Team, but they even had the chance for a better result. In the first inning after Chavez’ leadoff triple, they could have played the infield in, trying to stop him from scoring through Melvin Mora’s groundout to shortstop Sharlon Schoop. A frame later, De Caster was waved home with no outs on Engelhardt’s double and was thrown out by several feet. This ill-fated decision hurt especially, when Rooi followed with a single, which also would have driving in De Caster besides Engelhardt for a potential 2-1 Dutch lead.