U.S. baseball beats Netherlands 7-0
BEIJING -- Stephen Strasburg carried a no-hit bid into the seventh inning and struck out 11 Thursday, helping the United States to a 7-0, rain-shortened victory over the Netherlands in Olympic baseball.
The game was called after eight innings following a second rain delay. The Dutch protested the decision because they had loaded the bases in the ninth inning with no outs. But the protest was denied by baseball's international federation.
The players waited in their dugouts and eventually shook hands afterward 6 1-2 hours after the game started. The Dutch chose to not to appeal the ruling, but had three hours to change their mind.
In the other morning game, the China-South Korea game was suspended with no score in the bottom of the sixth and will resume Sunday.
Next up for the United States is defending Olympic champion Cuba on Friday in a matchup of medal contenders.
"I'm glad they called it when they did," U.S. manager Davey Johnson said. "We've got Cuba tomorrow. It was the right decision. Normally we shouldn't have started (again) when we did because the mound was unpitchable and my guy got into some trouble and he was slipping and sliding. It wasn't a good situation. In the States, they wouldn't have waited over 40 minutes on the second call."
The Dutch (0-2) are managed by Robert Eenhoorn, an infielder who played briefly for the New York Yankees in the 1990s. The Netherlands is still looking for its first run of these games after a 5-0 loss to Taiwan on Wednesday.
"Looking at the whole game, the U.S. deserved to win," Eenhoorn said. "It's just the way the game finished was kind of weird."
Strasburg retired the first 13 batters and didn't surrender a hit until Sharnol Adriana singled sharply to right with one out in the seventh. Strasburg's manager is already comparing the right-hander to Dwight Gooden. His catcher compares him to Mark Prior.
"He had very good stuff," Adriana said.
Strasburg was backed by Matt LaPorta's three-run homer and a solo shot by Matt Brown. Jason Donald had an RBI double as the U.S. (1-1) got back on track after losing 8-7 to South Korea on a ninth-inning rally — a game that ended 13 hours before the Americans were due back on the field.
The game was played in an eerie darkness for a morning game, though a breeze that blew the country flags high above the center-field fence provided respite from the stifling heat and humidity. It rained fiercely starting in the top of the eighth and the umpire finally called for a delay as thunder roared.