Still with the Ni-Gun team of the Yakult Swallows, Rick van den Hurk is slowly warming up. With Wladimir Balentien, it is quite the opposite.
Until today, Rick had pitched in three games, allowed six earned runs and struck out seven.
Today, against the DeNa BayStars, Rick pitched four innings in relief. He was very effective as he faced thirteen batters and struck out five of them. He did not allow a run. With no runs allowed today, Rick has lowered his ERA to 4.05.
The Swallows’ Ni-Gun team on the other hand, aren’t doing great. With twenty-four matches played in the Eastern League, the team has an 8-16 record.
The other Dutchie in the Ni-Gun, Wladimir Balentien isn’t exactly warming up yet. So far in ten games with the farm team of the SoftBank Hawks, he is hitting a disappointing .214 with five home runs. But on the positive side, Wladimir hasn’t struck out a lot, only three times so far. This means that he is hitting the ball but that he is lacking some luck so far.
The situation with Balentien and the SoftBank Hawks is exactly the opposite. Where Balentien is still struggling at the plate, the Hawks are surging and trailing the Chunichi Dragons, who are leading the Western League, by one game.
Baseball from a Dutch point of view since 2014
Dutch Baseball Hangout 