After yesterday’s victory over Cuba, the Dutch made an important stride towards the second round by beating Panama 3-1. Once again the pitching did well and this time several players delivered at the right time.
One day shy of the seventeenth anniversary of his WBC no-hitter against…. Panama in 2006, Shairon Martis took the mound again. This time, he did not go the distance. In 3.1 innings, he gave up three hits, two walks and struck out four for the win.
In the bottom of the third inning, Xander Bogaerts gave the Kingdom of the Netherlands the lead on a solo home run to left field.
In the next inning, Panama put runners on first and second with one out, time for manager Hensley Meulens to replace Shairon Martis with Mike Bolsenbroek. With some help of his infield, Bolsenbroek got out of the inning when Xander Bogaerts and Jonathan Schoop turned an inning-ending double play.
In the fifth inning, another solo shot extended the Dutch lead to 2-0. This time Jurickson Profar homered to right field on a line drive.
Until the sixth inning, Mike Bolsenbroek did not have much problems with the Panamanian lineup but in that sixth frame, three singles cut the Dutch lead in half.
In the eighth, the Kingdom of the Netherlands scored an insurance run. Xander Bogaerts led off with a double to left field and advanced to third on Didi Gregorius’ sac bunt. A wild pitch by Alberto Baldonado allowed Bogaerts to score.
Once again, Wendell Floranus entered to game to shut the door and once again he succeeded. He retired the first two batters he faced before giving up a walk to Rodrigo Orozco. But Floranus retired Allen Cordoba for the final out and the save as the latter lined out to Xander Bogaerts.
After going 0 for 4 in game one, Xander Bogaerts clearly was the best hitter today as he went 3 for 4 with an RBI and two runs scored.
With this victory, the Dutch are in the lead of group A.
Below you can see the summary of today’s game against Panama.
Dutch Baseball Hangout 
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