  Van den Hurk makes third trip to mound
Nederlands
 PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania (USA) -
Two days after his brief appearance in Chicago, Dutch pitcher Rick van den Hurk returned to the mound for the Pittsburgh Pirates, throwing the last inning in a 6-0 loss vs. Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday.
It marks the first time that Van den Hurk pitches at home for his new big league-club.
With the Pirates trailing 6-0, Van den Hurk entered the game in the top of the ninth inning replacing Bryan Morris.
The first batter the righthander faced, Aramis Ramirez, lined out to short stop Jordy Mercer, then Jonathan Lucroy followed with a single.
Next, Travis Ishikawa flied out, but then Van den Hurk hit Carlos Gomez with a pitch.
With runners on first and second base, the inning ended when Van den Hurk struckout Jean Segura.
The Pirates had only three basehits in this game, while the Brewers collected 13.
At the moment, eight players in the Major League hold a Dutch passport.
Outfielder Andruw Jones plays for the New York Yankees, where he played in 89 games this season so far, hitting .197 (45-for-228) with 13 homeruns, 26 runs scored and 32 runs batted in.
With 1932 career basehits, Jones is closing in on his 2000th basehit.
Outfielder Roger Bernadina played in 115 games so far for the Washington Nationals, hitting .296 (64-for-216) with four homeruns, 21 runs scored and 23 RBI's.
Closer Kenley Jansen this season threw in 56 games in relief for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The righthander is 5-3 with 25 saves and a 2.54 ERA, throwing in 56 2/3 inning and striking out 86, while giving up only 31 basehits.
He pitched in his last game on August 27, as he was sidelined with a recurrence of an irregular heartbeat, but he is cleared to pitch again and is back with the team.
Pitcher Pedro Strop threw in 65 games in relief for the Baltimore Orioles.
He is 5-2 with three saves and a 2.27 ERA.
Strop struckout 56 batters in 63 1/3 inning, giving up 48 basehits.
Three players with a Dutch passport made their debut in the Major League this season.
On June 2, short stop Andrelton Simmons made his debut with the Atlanta Braves.
Since then, he appeared in 39 games and hits .293 (39-for-133) with three homeruns, 14 runs scored and 17 RBI's.
He was sidelined recently with an injury, but was activated again on September 10.
On September 2, Jurickson Profar had a dream-debut, as he hit a homerun in his first Major League at bat, becoming the first player in history of the Texas Rangers to do so.
Profar also became the first Major League-player who was born in 1993.
So far, the short stop played in seven games, hitting .214 (3-for-14) with one homerun, two runs scored and two RBI's.
Three days later, on September 5, Mariekson 'Didi' Gregorius played in his first Major League-game for the Cincinnati Reds.
The Amsterdam-born Gregorius has played in four games so far, hitting .333 (5-for-15) with one RBI.
Last Sunday, the short stop went 3-for-5 against the Miami Marlins in a 5-4 win in eleven innings.
Righthanded pitcher Jair Jurrjens threw in 11 games (10 starts) for the Atlanta Braves this season, but is currently in the minor league.
He threw 48 1/3 inning, struckout only 19 batters and gave up 72 basehits.
Jurrjens struggled somewhat this season, made his last big league-appearance on July 31 and was optioned to Gwinnett Braves, the Triple-A team of Atlanta, on September 3.
(September 19)
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