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(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by Henk Seppen) Didi Gregorius collects three hits in Spring Training-game Nederlands TAMPA / SARASOTA, Florida / TEMPE / PHOENIX, Arizona (USA) - On Friday (March 2), five Dutch players got into action in Spring Training-games. They were Ozzie Albies, Ray-Patrick Didder, Didi Gregorius, Jonathan Schoop and Andrelton Simmons. The most successful player today was Gregorius, who was 3-for-3, scored a run and also batted in one as short stop for New York Yankees. At Phoenix, the game between the Chicago White Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers took three hours and 44 minutes to complete! The third inning alone lasted one hour and 15 minutes, but in that at bat, there also were two injuries. In the bottom of the third inning, Dodger-reliever Tom Koehler, who started the inning in relief of starter Clayton Kershaw, left the game after having faced only four batters. He might be out for several weeks with an injury to his right-shoulder, sustaining a mild sprain of the anterior shoulder capsule. A few batters later, veteran Home Plate Umpire Tony Randazzo was hit full on his left collarbone near his neck by a high pitch from Koehler's reliever Brock Stewart. The pitch never touched catcher Yasmani Grandal's glove, but went straight into Randazzo's neck-area. Randazzo fell to the ground and was carted off the field. 3B Umpire Adam Hamari took over behind the plate and the game continued with three umpires. Afterwards, luckily, it was reported that Randazzo was doing fine. Randazzo is a Major League-umpire since 1999. (March 2) Related Articles: Spencer Kieboom, Chadwick Tromp deliver game-winning hits. (March 1) Andrelton Simmons plays in first Spring Training-game. (February 28) Seattle adds Aruban Eugene Helder for Spring Training-game. (February 27) Jonathan Schoop homers for Baltimore. (February 26) Spencer Kieboom collects 2 basehits for Washington. (February 25) Baltimore adds 2 Curaçao-players for Spring Training-game. (February 24) First Dutch players in action in Major League Spring Training. (February 23) Major League Spring Training-season opens. (February 21)

At Tampa, the New York Yankees played at home against Atlanta Braves and recorded a come-from-behind 5-4 victory. New York trailed 4-0 after two innings, but scored twice in the fourth and added a run in the fifth. The Yankees then scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth to win. Didi Gregorius started as short stop for New York and batted in sixth place in the batting order. For Atlanta, Ozzie Albies was the starting second basemand and batted second. Gregorius was 3-for-3, scored a run and batted in one. Albies was 1-for-2 with a walk and a run scored. Later in the game, Ray-Patrick Didder took over at second base for Albies and was 0-for-1. ...Didi Gregorius, 3-for-3, run scored, RBI... (© Photo: Henk Seppen) In the top of the first inning, Yankee-starter Masahiro Tanaka began with a strikeout, but then walked Albies. With two outs, Albies advanced on a wild pitch, then scored on a ground-rule double by Johan Camargo. That was followed by a 2-run homerun from Ronald Acuna, Jr. to make it a 3-0 score. Atlanta added a run in the second when Jaff Decker led off with a double and scored on an one-out double from Austin Riley. Hereafter, Tanaka was relieved by Chasen Shreve, who got a force play-grounder from Ender Inciarte, but then gave up a single to Albies. However, this time, Atlanta left runners behind on first and third base. From here on, Atlanta was held scoreless by the Yankee-pitching. In the bottom of the second inning, Gregorius led off with a single. He got into scoring position on a wild pitch with one out and moved to third base on a grounder from Estevan Florial, but then was left behind. In the top of the fourth, Atlanta had a runner on second base with two outs, but the inning ended when Albies grounded out to Gregorius. New York got two runs back in the bottom of the fourth. With one out, Greg Bird walked and Gregorius singled. Both scored on a following double by Miguel Andújar, who has a strong Spring Training. With one out in the fifth, Giancarlo Stanton doubled for New York. After next hitter Gary Sanchez had lined out to leftfield, Greg Bird walked. Gregorius then connected for his third basehit in the game to bring in Stanton and narrow the deficit to 4-3. Gregorius was replaced in the top of the sixth by Mark Payton, who became the new rightfielder. Tyler Wade moved from second base to take over at short. In the bottom of the sixth, the day also ended for Albies, who was replaced by Cristian Pache. He became the new centerfielder, while Didder entered the game as new second baseman, replacing rightfielder Jaff Decker. In the eighth inning, Didder got his lone at bat and was struckout by new pitcher Jonathan Loaisiga. New York decided the game in the bottom of the ninth off of new pitcher Philip Pfeifer. He gave up a bunt-single to lead-off hitter Tyler Wade, who was forced out on a grounder by Gleyber Torres. But hereafter, Tyler Austin hit a walk-off, 2-run homerun.

At Sarasota, Baltimore Orioles won its home game against Pittsburgh Pirates with a 10-8 score, but was outhit 16-11. Pittsburgh led 6-2 halfway the fourth inning, but Baltimore then rallied for six runs to turn the game its way. Jonathan Schoop was the starting second baseman for Baltimore, but was 0-for-3. In the bottom of the first inning, Baltimore opened the score. With one out, Trey Mancini singled and scored on a double by Manny Machado. The latter moved to third base on a grounder by Adam Jones, but then was left behind, as Schoop struckout. In the top of the second inning, Pittsburgh rallied for four runs, highlighted by a 3-run triple from Adam Frazier. With Baltimore trailing 6-2, Schoop led off the bottom of the fourth inning, but popped out. Hereafter, the team staged a 6-run rally, which ended with a 3-run homerun from Machado that made it an 8-6 score in favor of the Orioles. Next batter Jones then walked, but the inning ended when Schoop flied out in his second at bat in the inning. In the top of the sixth, all nine defensive positions changed for the Orioles. It in common early in the Spring Training-season that starting players will leave the game after five or six innings. Baltimore put in nine new players, who all went on to play on another position than the player they replaced, except of course the pitcher. Schoop was replaced by Garabez Rosa, who became the new first baseman. Engelb Vielma entered the game as new second baseman. In the batting order, he replaced catcher Caleb Joseph.

At Tempe, Los Angeles Angels played at home against Chicago Cubs and lost 6-4. With the score a 3-3 after eight innings, Chicago scored three runs in the top of the ninth. Andrelton Simmons started as short stop for the Angels and was 0-for-2. In the bottom of the second ining, Zack Cozart and Kole Calhoun began for the Angels with singles. Jefry Marte then delivered a runscoring single. With runners on first and second base, Zach Hedges took over the pitching and faced Simmons, but he popped up. A following double play then ended the at bat. In the fourth inning, Simmons struckout. In the top of the sixth, six new players entered the game for the Angels, who all went on to play on other positions than the player they replaced. Carlos Perez replaced Simmons and became the new catcher. Jake Yacinich replaced centerfielder Mike Trout and took over for Simmons as short stop. In Spring Training, there are a lot of changes. In the last few games, most teams enter several new players in the sixth or seventh inning, but they don't take over the position of the player they replace. For an Official Scorer, this can be troublesome, as several players are unknown, since they are non-roster players or added Minor League-players. To make it even more difficult for the Official Scorer, for some reason, three different players of the Angels today all wore uniform number nine, playing at the same time. Leftfielder Eric Young, Jr., centerfielder Kyle Survance, Jr. and third baseman Sherman Johnson all entered the top of the sixth inning with the same number.

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