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(Story by Marco Stoovelaar) No hits, but three walks for five Netherlands-players in Spring Training Nederlands FORT MYERS / LAKELAND, Florida / GOODYEAR / SOTTSDALE / SURPRISE, Arizona (USA) - On Monday (February 24), Spring Training continued with 16 games. Five players from the Netherlands came into action, being Sherten Apostel (Texas Rangers), Jurickson Profar (San Diego Padres), Jonathan Schoop (Detroit Tigers), Chadwick Tromp (San Francisco Giants) and Zander Wiel (Minnesota Twins). None of them got a basehit, but three of them walked. At Clearwater, Czech catcher and non-roster player Martin Červenka played in his first Spring Training-game for Baltimore Orioles in the away-game at Philadelphia Phillies. The 27-year catcher, born in Prague, was 0-for-2 (one strikeout). Last year, Červenka played in 10 Spring Training-games, hitting 2-for-8. Both basehits were homeruns! The Czech catcher plays professionally since 2011. Last year, he played in Double-A and Triple-A. (February 24) 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)

At Hammond Stadium at the CenturyLink Sports Complex in Fort Myers, Minnesota Twins won 3-2 in a home-game against a split-squad of Boston Red Sox. Boston opened the score in the first inning on a homerun by Andrew Benintendi. Minnesota then took over the lead in the third at bat. First, the team came alongside when Gilberto Celestino homered. After a single and with one out, Nelson Cruz also homered to put Minnesota ahead, 3-1. Boston scored its second run in the ninth on an error. In the top of the sixth, Zander Wiel entered the game for Minnesota as new first baseman to play in his fourth consecutive game. In the bottom of the sixth, with one out and a runner on second base, Wiel walked. The two runners advanced on a grounder, but were left behind. Wiel flied out in the eighth inning.

At Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland, Detroit Tigers played at home against Houston Astros and lost 11-1. Jonathan Schoop was the starting second baseman for Detroit. He grounded out in the second inning and flied out in the fourth. Schoop was replaced in the top of the sixth by Kody Clemens, who is the son of former Major League-pitcher Roger Clemens. With a 3-1 lead, Houston added five runs in the seventh inning. That was highlighted by a grand slam homerun from Corey Julks off of Elvin Rodriguez, who had just entered the game as new pitcher. For the first time, several regular players of Houston Astros were in the starting line-up today. José Altuve, Alex Bregman, Carlos Correa and Yulieski Gurriel played in their first game of this Spring Training. As all played for Houston in 2017, they were booed by spectators when they came to bat. After an investigation, Major League Baseball reported last month that Houston had violated the rules during the 2017 season for using technology for stealing signs from opposing catchers.

At Surprise Stadium in Surprise, San Diego Padres visited Kansas City Royals and lost 8-5. San Diego led 3-1 halfway the third inning. Kansas City came alongside, then took the lead by scoring twice in the sixth and adding three runs in the seventh. The runs in the seventh were scored on a homerun by MJ Melendez. Jurickson Profar started as second baseman for San Diego. In the top of the first inning, San Diego took a 2-0 lead on a homerun by Manny Machado. The inning ended with a grounder by Profar, who hit an inning-ending flyout in the third. Profar was replaced by Esteban Quiroz in the bottom of the fifth.

At Goodyear Ballpark in Goodyear, Texas Rangers visited Cincinnati Reds and lost 9-6. Texas outhit Cincinnati 10-6. Sherten Apostel started for Texas at third base and was 0-for-2 with a walk. Texas opened the game with three runs in the top of the first inning on a force out-grounder by Willie Calhoun and a 2-run single by Jose Trevino. After Trevino's single, Apostel walked and a pitching change followed, then a flyout ended the at bat. Cincinnati answered with four runs in its first at bat when Phillip Ervin hit a 2-out, grand slam homerun! With two runners on base and two outs in the third inning, Apostel hit a force play-grounder. He also hit a grounder in the sixth inning, then was replaced by Andy Ibanez in the bottom of the sixth.

At Scottsdale Stadium in Scottsdale, San Francisco Giants played at home against Arizona Diamondbacks and won 11-9. Trailing 4-2, San Francisco came alongside in the fifth, then took the lead in the sixth and rallied for six runs in the seventh at bat. In the bottom of the sixth, San Francisco took a 5-4 lead on a single by Drew Robinson. After a walk for next batter Alexander Canario, non-roster player Chadwick Tromp entered the game as pinch-hitter and flied out, which ended the inning. Tromp became the new designated hitter. In the seventh, six of the first seven batters recorded a basehit, including an RBI-double by Jacob Heyward, followed by a 2-run triple by Jaylin Davis. After having scored five runs and with two outs and a runner on second base, Tromp walked. The bases got loaded when Ryan Howard also walked. The third consecutive walk for Sean Roby brought in another run. But three runners, including Tromp, were left behind. In the top of the ninth, Tromp took over the catching for San Francisco and Trevor Oaks became the new pitcher. Oaks earned a save.

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