De Glaskoning Twins vs. Curaçao Neptunus
Initially, it appeared that Neptunus was to open the score in the top of the first inning off of Australian righthander Justin Erasmus.
Dwayne Kemp led off with a single, but was caught stealing.
Benjamin Dille followed with a single, then Gianison Boekhoudt walked with two outs.
Hereafter, Christian Diaz also singled.
Dille was waved home to score, but was eliminated at the plate on a nice throw from leftfielder Nick Peels, which ended the inning.
Twins answered the nice defensive play by scoring twice in its first at bat off of veteran lefthander Diegomar Markwell.
Like Neptunus, Twins got its first batter on base, only to see him eliminated moments later.
Jarreau Martina led off with a single, but was then picked-off first base moments later.
Bart Hanegraaff then walked and Jeffrey Arends singled with two outs.
The bases got loaded when Berry van Donselaar also singled.
Hereafter, Christopher Ge became the next batter for Twins and that led to a special moment.
Ge made his debut in the Dutch big league and with that, he became the player with the shortest last name in history in the highest division.
He then connected on the first pitch he saw and delivered a 2-run single that gave Twins the lead.
In the bottom of the second inning, a Twins-runner also was eliminated at the plate.
Bob van der Meer led off with a single (his first in the big league and in his first at bat) and stole second base.
With two outs, Bart Hanegraaff delivered his first big league-single.
Van der Meer was waved home, but was eliminated on a throw by leftfielder Urving Kemp.
Neptunus had been retired in order in the top of the second inning by Justin Erasmus, who by the way has the same family-name as the wellknown, Rotterdam-born priest, teacher and theologican Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536).
But in the third at bat, Neptunus came alongside.
Shaldimar Daantji and Dwayne Kemp began with singles, which led to runners on second and third base.
A grounder by Benjamin Dille and sacrifice fly by Raily Legito then made it a 2-2 score.
Hereafter, Gianison Boekhoudt struckout, but reached on a passed ball, then moved on a wild pitch and reached third base on a single by Christian Diaz.
However, they both were left behind.
...Gianison Boekhoudt...
...game-winning homerun...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
Neptunus again left two runners behind in the fourth inning, but then turned the game its way in the fifth when Gianison Boekhoudt homered with one out.
In the bottom of the sixth, Twins got the bases loaded off of Markwell, who threw 93 pitches tonight.
With one out, Jeffrey Arends walked, then Berry van Donselaar and Christopher Ge both singled.
The inning ended with a double play.
On Bart Janssen's grounder, Ge was forced out on second base, then Janssen himself was called out on a very close play at first base.
Would Janssen have been safe, Twins would have tied the score, but now the inning ended.
A brief rain-shower of some five minutes followed, but didn't interrupt the game, which saw some more close plays at first base.
In the bottom of the seventh, off of new pitcher Bayron Cornelisse, Bob van der Meer led off with a single and stole second base.
He moved to third base on a grounder by Jarreau Martina, then the inning ended when Bart Hanegraaff grounded out.
That led to some reactions from Twins, as this also was a close play, however, Hanegraaff was tagged just in time by first baseman Rien Vernooij.
Neptunus added an insurance run in the ninth inning off of Matthew Latta, who relieved Ben Van Nuffel, who had thrown the three previous innings.
With one out, the Belgian righthander gave up a single to Dwayne Kemp.
He stole second base, moved on a passed ball, then score on a single by Benjamin Dille to make it 4-2.
Twins ended up short, but had made a fine impression in its first game back at the highest level.
Twins last played in the big league in 2004.
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Twins makes nice return, but ends up short against Neptunus
ROTTERDAM (Neth.) -
De Glaskoning Twins made a fine return in the highest Dutch league on Thursday-evening (April 14).
The team from Oosterhout boldly took a 2-0 lead against reigning champion Curaçao Neptunus, but in the end ended up short and lost (only) 4-2.
Opening Night Season 2016.