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(Story by Marco Stoovelaar) Zander Wiel homers for Minnesota; Didi Gregorius makes Philadelphia-debut Nederlands CLEARWATER / FORT MYERS / JUPITER / NORTH PORT, Florida / PHOENIX / TEMPE, Arizona (USA) - On Sunday (February 23), all seventeen scheduled exhibition games were played in Spring Training. The weather conditions had improved much better as opposed to Saturday when six games in Arizona had to be cancelled. On Sunday, six players from the Netherlands played. Zander Wiel played in his third game for Minnesota Twins and contributed with his first Spring Training-homerun. Ozzie Albies played in his second game for Atlantra Braves, while Didi Gregorius (Philadelphia Phillies), Kenley Jansen (Los Angels Dodgers), Carter Kieboom (Washington Nationals) and Andrelton Simmons (Los Angeles Angels) all played in the their first Spring Training-game. Gregorius and Simmons played for new Managers. At Philadelphia, Gregorius is reunited with Joe Girardi, who also was his Manager when the two were with the New York Yankees. Girardi is one of ten new Managers this season in the Major League. The others are Dusty Baker (Houston Astros), Gabe Kapler (San Francisco Giants), Joe Maddon (Los Angeles Angels), Mike Matheny (Kansas City Royals), Ron Roenicke (Boston Red Sox), Luis Rojas (New York Mets), David Ross (Chicago Cubs), Derek Shelton (Pittsburgh Pirates) and Jayce Tingler (San Diego Padres). That would have been eight, but after the sign-stealing scandal, three Managers lost their job. A.J. Hinch was fired by Houston Astros and Boston Red Sox separated with Alex Cora. New York Mets separated with Carlos Beltrán, who would have to be the team's new Manager this season. On Saturday, Los Angeles Dodgers had added German pitcher Markus Solbach as an extra pitcher to its team for the game against San Francisco Giants. But the 28-year old righthander, born in Dormagen (located between Cologne and Düsseldorf, Germany), didn't pitch. Solbach pitched professionally in 2011-2016 in the Minor Leagues (Minnesota Twins, Arizona Diamondbacks). He then pitched in an Independent League in 2017 and threw in Australia in the 2018-2019 winter season. In January last year, Solbach signed with the Dodgers and last season, he pitched in Rookie League and Double-A and was 5-1. Overall, Solbach is 33-22 in his seven Minor League-seasons. (February 23) 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)

At Cool Today Park in North Port, Atlanta Braves played at home against a split-squad of Detroit Tigers. Ozzie Albies was the starting second baseman for Atlanta and was 1-for-2. Detroit won the game, 5-1. In the bottom of the first inning, Atlanta trailed, as Detroit had scored twice on a single by Jordy Mercer. For Atlanta, lead-off hitter Ronald Acuña reached on an error, but hereafter, Albies flied out. Acuña would steal second base, but then was left behind. With Detroit now leading 3-0 with one out in the bottom of the third inning, Acuña again reached on an error. He was then replaced by pinch-runner Shane Robinson This time, Albies followed with a single which advanced Robinson to third base. After Albies had reached first base, he also was replaced by a pinch-runner, Jack Lopez. Moments later, Robinson scored Atlanta's lone run on a sacrifice fly by Freddie Freeman.

At Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter, a split-squad of Washington Nationals visited Miami Marlins. Carter Kieboom started for Washington at third base. On Saturday, Kieboom also played at third base for Washington against Houston Astros. However, after two innings, just before Kieboom's first at bat, the game was interrupted by heavy rain. After a 90-minute delay, the game was cancelled. Today, Kieboom got his at bat and played a complete game at third base for Washington, which lost 5-2. Kieboom was 0-for-3 with a walk. Kieboom led off the second inning and then grounded out. He also grounded out in the fourth inning to end that Washington at bat. In the seventh, Kieboom again was the lead-off hitter and this time, he popped out to short. In the ninth inning, Kieboom led off for the third time. He walked, but moments later, he was eliminated when next batter Raudy Read grounded into a double play.

At Spectrum Field in Clearwater, Philadelphia Phillies played at home against a split-squad of Pittsburgh Pirates. Didi Gregorius made his debut in a Philadelphia-uniform. Wearing his familiar number 18, Gregorius batted third and was the starting short stop for new Manager Joe Girardi, who took over the position in the off-season. Girardi also was the Manager of Gregorius when the two worked for New York Yankees. Philadelphia rallied for four runs in the bottom of the first inning and went on to win 4-3. With that, Philadelphia opened at home with a win at Clearwater, where the team is having Spring Training annually since 1947. Gregorius showed his arm-strenghth immediately in the top of the first inning. Kevin Newman led off for Pittsburgh with a single, but then was eliminated in a double play. Gregorius was in the middle (4-6-3) and got the ball in time on first base thanks to a strong throw. In the bottom of the first inning, Roman Quinn led off for Philadelphia with a double, then J.T. Realmuto was hit by a pitch. Gregorius was the next batter. He grounded out, but that moved both runners and Quinn then scored when Jean Segura followed with a single. Shortly thereafter, both Realmuto and Segura scored on a double by Jay Bruce, who later scored himself on a sacrifice fly by Kyle Garlick. Gregorius flied out in the second inning. He led off the fifth inning, but then grounded out again. The Amsterdam-born short stop then was replaced in the top of the sixth by Arquimedes Gamboa.

At Hammond Stadium at the CenturyLink Sports Complex in Fort Myers, Minnesota Twins played at home against Toronto Blue Jays. With Toronto leading 5-4, Zander Wiel homered for Minnesota to tie the score at 5-5, which also was the final score of the 9-inning game. Minnesota led 4-0 after five innings, but then Toronto scored three runs in the top of the sixth and added two in the seventh to take a 5-4 lead. In the sixth, Toronto scored on two walks, a hit batter, a sacrifice fly, a single and a double. In the top of the sixth inning, Zander Wiel entered the game as new first baseman for Minnesota. He had started at that position in the previous two games. After Toronto had taken over the lead in the top of the seventh, Wiel got his first at bat in the game in the bottom of the eighth. Facing new pitcher Kirby Snead, Wiel led off and hit a homerun to make it a 5-5 score.

At Camelback Ranch-Glendale in Phoenix, Los Angeles Dodgers played at home against Chicago Cubs and recorded a 4-2 victory. Kenley Jansen was one of nine pitchers used by Manager Dave Roberts, who inserted a new pitcher each inning. Jansen pitched the second in relief of lefthanded starter Alex Wood. In the top of the second inning, Jansen retired all three batters he faced, two of them with a strikeout. The righthander first struckout lead-off hitter Josh Phegley, then saw Daniel Descalso flied out. Hereafter, Jansen closed the inning by striking out Nico Hoerner. Chicago opened the score in the top of the fourth inning on a homerun by Victor Caratini. Los Angeles came alongside in its fourth at bat on a wild pitch and broke the tie in the fifth. That was done on a sacrifice fly by newcomer Mookie Betts, who joined Los Angeles on February 10 after a trade with Boston Red Sox. Los Angeles added two runs in the seventh, then Chicago scored its second run in the eighth.

At Tempe Diablo Stadium in Tempe, Los Angeles Angels played at home against Colorado Rockies and won 7-5. Andrelton Simmons was one of two regular players to start for the Angels, as he was the team's short stop. The 30-year old Simmons (uniform number 2) batted second and was 0-for-1 with a walk. In the bottom of the first inning, Brandon Marsh led off for Los Angeles with a walk, moved into scoring position on a grounder by Simmons, then scored the first run on a 2-out single by Jo Adell. In the third inning, Simmons led off with a walk and after reaching first base, he was replaced by pinch-runner Leonardo Rivas, who later scored.

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