For tonight's game, Neptunus' Head Coach Ronald Jaarsma was not planning to use one of his regular pitchers as a starter to give them additional rest from the tournament last week.
In fact, he didn't even used a pitcher to start tonight, as he named outfielder Christian Diaz (who was having his birthday) as his starting pitcher.
Also tonight, centerfielder Shaldimar Daantji had the night off, while short stop Dwayne Kemp didn't play due to illness.
Brian Raap, who joined the team during the exhibition season coming from Hoofddorp Pioniers, made his first start of the season.
The catcher was sidelined with an injury and had appeared in only one game this season as a pinch-hitter.
Tonight, he was the designated hitter.
Pitching in relief for Neptunus tonight was Henk van Heijningen, who made his first appearance of the season.
He pitched in some exhibition games, but during the regular season, he was on the roster of Tridents, the second team of Neptunus in the second highest league.
Van Heijningen, whose father Henri van Heijningen tonight was the umpire at first base, last pitched in the big league in 2014 when he played for The Hawks.
Tonight, he was the winning pitcher.
In the high-scoring game, Neptunus led 3-0 halfway the third inning, then trailed 5-3 moments later.
Neptunus re-took the lead in the fifth by scoring five runs, but Twins came back to 8-7.
In the eighth, Neptunus added four more runs, but Twins also scored three in what was the last at bat of the game due to the curfew-rule.
While being a home game for Twins, it was played at the site of Neptunus due to the insufficient lighting installation in Oosterhout.
Neptunus opened the score in the top of the second inning off of Australian starter Jeremy Atkinson.
Gianison Boekhoudt led off with a single and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Urving Kemp.
Neptunus added two runs in the third inning.
With one out, Stijn van der Meer walked and Benjamin Dille singled.
They went on to score respectively on a single by Gregory Muller and an error that followed on an infield-fly.
Fill-in starter Christian Diaz walked lead-off hitter Nick Peels in the first inning, but he was then caught stealing after a pick-off.
With two outs, the lefthander got two baserunners, but he closed with a strikeout.
Twins again left two baserunners in the second inning, but then rallied for five runs in the third.
Bram Grooten led off with a single and Dennis De Quint walked.
A single by Melvin Perdue then produced the first run.
With one out, Christopher Ge delivered a runscoring single, then Bob van der Meer followed with a 2-run double that gave Twins a 4-3 lead.
A 2-out double by Denzel Bryson then made it 5-3 and brought in Henk van Heijningen as new pitcher.
In the fifth, it was Neptunus that scored five runs, with only one of them being earned.
Lead-off hitter Stijn van der Meer reached on an error and later scored on a single by Gianison Boekhoudt.
Hereafter, Daniel Fernandes added an RBI-double, which tied the score at 5-5.
With the bases loaded, Jan Evertse took over the pitching for Twins.
He gave up a 2-run double to Jochem Koedijk, then saw another run being scored on a wild pitch that lifted the lead to 8-5.
In the bottom of the sixth, Twins got two runs back.
Bram Grooten led off with a walk, then Misja Harcksen took over the pitching from Van Heijningen.
With two outs, he walked Gino Jonis, then gave up a 2-run triple to Christopher Ge.
In the seventh, Neptunus appeared to do some scoring again.
Ruar Verkerk led off with a double and Urving Kemp walked.
Japanese righthander Daisuke Yamashita then became the new pitcher for Twins.
He got the bases loaded with two outs when he walked Stijn van der Meer, but Neptunus left the three runners behind.
The team then scored four more runs in the eighth.
With the bases loaded, Ruar Verkerk hit a 2-run double, then Urving Kemp followed with another runscoring double.
A grounder by Jochem Koedijk made it a 12-7 score.
In the bottom of the eighth, it was Twins that did some scoring again off of Kevin Kelly, who had relieved Harcksen with one out and two runners on base in the previous inning.
In the eighth, with the bases loaded, a double play-grounder by pinch-hitter Mick Molenaar produced the first run.
Denzel Bryson brought in two more runs with a single, but a grounder ended the inning.
And that also ended the game, as the 10:30 PM curfew-time had well been passed.
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Neptunus wins vs. Twins; Yntema back in uniform
ROTTERDAM (Neth.) -
Curaçao Neptunus won 12-10 on Thursday-evening (June 15) against De Glaskoning Twins in its first game after returning from the European Champions Cup-tournament in Germany.
Last Sunday, Neptunus won the European Cup by winning the Final against UnipolSai Fortitudo Bologna from Italy.
Game played at the site of Neptunus in Rotterdam.