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(Story by Marco Stoovelaar) Kenley Jansen allows first batter to reach base Nederlands CLEARWATER / FORT MYERS / WEST PALM BEACH, Florida / MESA / PEORIA, Arizona (USA) - On Thursday (March 5), it was another busy day in Spring Training, as a total of 15 games was played. Seven in Florida, eight in Arizona. Five Netherlands-players were in the starting line-ups on Thursday: Sherten Apostel (Texas Rangers), Xander Bogaerts (Boston Red Sox), Didi Gregorius (Philadelphia Phillies), Carter Kieboom (Washington Nationals) and Jurickson Profar (San Diego Padres). Zander Wiel (Minnesota Twins) and Kenley Jansen (Los Angeles Dodgers) also got into action. For Bogaerts, it was the first time that he played defensively, as he is recovering from a minor injury. On Wednesday, Bogaerts played in his first game, getting two at bats as designated hitter. In Lakeland (Florida), Detroit Tigers and New York Yankees played a highscoring game in which eleven homeruns were hit. Detroit led 7-2 after three innings, but after five innings, the score was tied at 8-8. Detroit went on to win 15-11. The team collected seventeen basehits, including nine homeruns. New York had two homeruns, which were both hit by Kyle Higashioka. Travis Demeritte and Miguel Cabrera both hit two homeruns for Detroit. (March 5) Related Articles: 10 Kingdom-players open Spring Training on Major League-rosters. (February 20) Sherten Apostel & Zander Wiel first Netherlands-players in action in Spring Training. (February 21) Five Netherlands-players in Spring Training-action on Saturday. (February 22) Wiel homers for Minnesota; Gregorius makes Philadelphia-debut. (February 23) No hits, but 3 walks for 5 Netherlands-players in Spring Training. (February 24) Spring Training-basehits for Albies, Apostel and Kieboom. (February 25) Good Spring Training-outings Ozzie Albies & Kenley Jansen. (February 26) Zander Wiel hits second Spring Training-homerun. (February 27) Jonathan Schoop hits 2-run double for Detroit Tigers. (February 28) Carter Kieboom walks twice and scores for Washington. (February 29) Productive outings Jurickson Profar, Andrelton Simmons & Kenley Jansen. (March 1) Sherten Apostel contributes to Spring Training-win Texas Rangers. (March 2) Ozzie Albies and Carter Kieboom collect two Spring Training-basehits. (March 3) Xander Bogaerts plays in first Spring Training-game. (March 4)

At Spectrum Field in Clearwater, Philadelphia Phillies played at home against Toronto Blue Jays and won 5-3. Didi Gregorius was the starting short stop for Philadelphia and batted 0-for-3. After Toronto had taken an early 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning, Philadelphia got one run back in its first at bat when Roman Quinn hit an one-run homerun. Hereafter, Bryce Harper and Rhys Hoskins both walked, but the inning ended when Gregorius grounded into a double play. In the bottom of the fourth, Hoskins led off with a homerun to make it a 2-2. Hereafter, Gregorius flied out. In the fifth, Philadelphia took a 5-2 lead. Austin Listi led off with a homerun and with one out, Harper also homered. Next batter Hoskins doubled, which led to a pitching change. Ty Tice took over and faced Gregorius, who grounded out. In the top of the sixth, Arquimedes Gamboa replaced Gregorius as short stop. In that inning, Toronto scored its third run when Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. homered.

At jetBlue Park at Fenway South, Boston Red Sox played at home against Houston Astros and was shutout 5-0. Xander Bogaerts was the starting short stop for Boston. In his first defensive game of Spring Training, Bogaerts was 0-for-2. Like on Wednesday, he struckout in the two at bats he got in the game. Bogaerts struckout to close an one-two-three bottom of the first inning. He also ended the fourth inning with a strikeout. In the top of the fifth, Bogaerts left the game and was replaced by C.J. Chatham, who took over as short stop. Houston opened the score in the top of the third inning when Kyle Tucker hit a 2-run homerun. In the fifth, another run was added on a force play-grounder by Aledmys Diaz. Houston scored two more runs in the ninth inning.

At Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota, Minnesota Twins played an away-game at Baltimore Orioles, which ended with a 3-3 score after nine innings. With Minnesota leading 2-1, Zander Wiel entered the game as new first baseman, replacing Miguel Sano. Wiel led off for Minnesota in the top of the eighth and then singled in what would be his lone at bat in the game. Moments later, he was eliminated in a double play. In the top of the ninth, Alex Kirilloff homered to give Minnesota a 3-1 lead. But in the bottom of the ninth, Baltimore came alongside on three consecutive singles. With runners at the corners, the next three batters were retired. That ended the game, as Spring Training-games are not going into extra innings.

At FITTTEAM Ballpark of The Palm Beaches in West Palm Beach, Washington Nationals hosted St. Louis Cardinals in an evening-game and was shutout 11-0. Carter Kieboom started at third base for Washington and was 0-for-2. Kieboom led off the bottom of the third and then grounded out. In the bottom of the fifth, with a runner on second base, three grounders followed, the third being hit by Kieboom. In the top of the seventh inning, Kieboom was replaced by Wilmer Difo. St. Louis opened the score in the second inning with three runs, two of them on a homerun by Andrew Knizner. Three runs were added in the fifth. This time, Tommy Edman contributed with a 2-run homerun. Leading 6-0, the scoring continued in the sixth with one run. In the top of the seventh, St. Louis rallied for four runs, which were scored on back-to-back RBI-doubles by Rangel Ravelo and Austin Dean, which were followed by a 2-run homerun by Justin Williams. And that lifted the lead to 11-0.

At Sloan Park in Mesa, a split-squad of Texas Rangers visited Chicago Cubs and won 5-0. Sherten Apostel was the starting third baseman for Texas and was 0-for-1, walked twice and scored once. In the top of the second inning, Apostel hit a force play-grounder. In the fourth, leading 1-0, Texas got the bases loaded when Sam Travis led off with a walk, Isiah Kiner-Falefa reached on an error and Apostel also walked. With one out, Anderson Tejeda delivered a 2-run single. With two outs, Apostel and Tejeda both scored on a single by Nick Solak, which lifted the lead to 5-0. In the fifth, Apostel walked again, but this time, he was forced out. He was then replaced in the bottom of the sixth by Davis Wendzel.

At Peoria Stadium in Peoria, San Diego Padres played at Seattle Mariners and won 3-0 on only three basehits. Jurickson Profar started the game for San Diego as designated hitter and was 0-for-3 with a walk. Profar was the lone San Diego-player who was not replaced. In the top of the first inning, Profar (who batted second) walked, but stranded on second base. He then struckout in the third inning. In his third at bat in the fifth inning, Profar popped out. He struckout again in the seventh. San Diego scored its first run in the fourth inning on an error, then added two runs in the sixth on a homerun by Greg Garcia.

At Hohokam Stadium (also known as Dwight W. Patterson Field) in Mesa, Los Angeles Dodgers visited Oakland Athletics and lost 5-1. With Oakland leading 2-0, Kenley Jansen took over the Dodger-pitching in the fourth inning. For the first time, Jansen allowed a batter to reach base. In his previous three outings, the righthander retired all three batters he faced. Today, Jansen gave up an one-out single to Chad Pinder. But he followed with a strikeout, then a flyout ended the at bat. In the top of the sixth, Los Angeles cut the deficit in half when Cody Bellinger homered. But in the bottom of the sixth, Oakland took more distance by scoring three runs.

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