The impressive Dutch run at the Baseball World Cup ended today against Team USA. The mix of players from the independent and minor leagues struck first, with a solo homer on only the second pitch in the bottom of the first. A pitchers’ duel followed, with Dutch starter David Bergman keeping the US scoreless until the eighth inning, and Matt Wright plus two relievers doing likewise to the Dutch.
In the eighth, it was Team USA that broke the game open. A walk and a good bunt brought runners on first and second. A single to right field scored the second American run, with the other runner and the batter advancing to third and second on the throw home. After an intentional walk, the score went to 4-0 and a single to left. A sacrifice fly plated the fifth and final run.
Yesterday, we came back from a 2-1 gap in the ninth, and won it in the eleventh. Today, the five-run difference was too much to bridge. Closer Chris Booker did surrender a lead-off single and a walk, but he retired three batters without giving up a run to propel the US to the World Cup final. They will play Cuba tomorrow at 4.30pm Taiwan time.
Congratulations to Team USA on a great game. They made no mistakes today and profited from the few that we made. Good luck tomorrow. It would be nice to see the gold medal go to someone else than Cuba for a change.
A big round of applause also to the Dutch team for reaching the semi finals for the second straight time and showing the world that baseball is very much growing in Europe. Good luck tomorrow in the bronze medal game against Japan. Let’s show everyone one more time how good we’ve become.
