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(Story by Marco Stoovelaar) Good Spring Training-outings Ozzie Albies and Kenley Jansen Nederlands FORT MYERS / PORT CHARLOTTE / SARASOTA / TAMPA, Florida / PEORIA / PHOENIX / SCOTTSDALE, Arizona (USA) - On Wednesday (February 26), seventeen exhibition games were scheduled in Spring Training. But on a cloudy day in Florida, one game had to be cancelled due to rain. Two other games ended earlier due to rain. Six players from the Netherlands started, one was inserted during the game. Ozzie Albies (Atlanta Braves), Sherten Apostel (Texas Rangers), Didi Gregorius (Philadelphia Phillies), Carter Kieboom (Washington Nationals), Jurickson Profar (San Diego Padres) and Zander Wiel (Minnesota Twins) all were in the starting line-up. Kenley Jansen (Los Angeles Dodgers) pitched in relief. Albies and Jansen had fine outings today. Albies collected two basehits, while Jansen struckout three batters. German pitcher Markus Solbach made his Spring Training-debut, pitching for Los Angeles Dodgers. He was also added to the team as an extra pitcher a few days ago, but then didn't play. Today also saw the first ejection! Which is very rare during an exhibition game. That happened in the game between a split-squad of Houston Astros and a split-squad of St. Louis Cardinals. With the score at 3-3 in the top of the fifth inning, St. Louis rallied for four runs. Hereafter, Houston's Pitching Coach Brent Strom had a talk with pitcher Andre Scrubb after he had walked two batters (one with the bases loaded) and had given up a 2-run single. On his way back to the dug-out, Strom apparently said something, as he was ejected by Home Plate Umpire Mike Estabrook. St. Louis won 7-5, but Myles Straw hit two homeruns (one inside-the-park) for Houston. (February 26) 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)

At Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota, Atlanta Braves visited Baltimore Orioles and lost 4-3. Baltimore moved to Sarasota in 2010, then renovated the stadium in time for Spring Training 2011. Ozzie Albies was the starting second baseman for Atltanta and was 2-for-3. Albies popped out in the top of the first inning. Moments later, in the bottom of the first, Baltimore took a 2-0 lead, scoring its runs on a passed ball and a wild pitch. Atlanta got one run back in the second when Travis d'Arnaud led off with a homerun. The team came alongside in the third. This time, Bryce Ball led off with a homerun. Later in that at bat, with one out, Albies singled, but was eliminated in a double play. Baltimore re-took the lead in the fifth by scoring two runs on a single and a wild pitch. Atlanta got one run back in the sixth. Facing new pitcher Richard Bleier, Albies led off with a single, then was replaced by pinch-runner Jack Lopez. He was later forced out, but with two outs, Atlanta scored a run on a single by Adeiny Hechavarria.

At Hammond Stadium at the CenturyLink Sports Complex in Fort Myers, Philadelphia Phillies played an away-game against a split-squad of Minnesota Twins and won 5-4. Didi Gregorius was the starting short stop for Philadelphia, batted second and was 0-for-3. Gregorius flied out in the first and third inning, then struckout in the fifth. In the bottom of the sixth, Arquimedes Gamboa took over the short stop-position from Gregorius. Trailing 2-0, Minnesota came alongside in the fifth, then took the lead in the sixth on back-to-back homeruns by Nelson Cruz and Seth Gray. In the top of the eighth, Philadelphia tied the score via a triple by Mickey Moniak and a single by Nick Maton. A homerun by Arquimedes Gamboa then gave Philadelphia the lead (and the win) in the ninth.

At George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, Washington Nationals visited New York Yankees and lost 8-2 in a game that was halted due to rain in the bottom of the fifth inning. Carter Kieboom was the starting third baseman for Washington and got two at bats. He was hit by a pitch, walked and scored a run. In the top of the second inning, with one out, Kieboom was hit by a pitch, then scored when next batter Raudy Read homered to give Washington a 2-0 lead. In the bottom of the third, New York rallied for six runs to turn the game around. First, a throwing error by Kieboom led to two runs and tied the score. Hereafter, a ground-rule double by DJ LeMahieu gave New York a 3-2 lead. Three more runs were added hereafter. With one out in the top of the fourth, Kieboom walked, but this time, he was forced out on second base. New York scored two more runs in the bottom of the fourth. With one out and the bases loaded (three pinch-runners) in the bottom of the fifth, the game was halted by rain.

At Charlotte Sports Park in Port Charlotte, a split-squad of Minnesota Twins visited Tampa Bay Rays and won 10-8. Zander Wiel was the starting first baseman for Minneota and was 1-for-2. In the top of the second inning, Trevor Larnach and Brent Rooker led off for Minnesota with a walk. The bases then got loaded when Wiel singled. With one out, Larnach scored on a single by Tomas Telis, then Rooker scored on a sacrifice fly by Drew Maggi. But Wiel stranded on second base. Wiel struckout out in the fourth inning. He then was replaced in the bottom of the fifth by Kody Eaves. Trailing 2-0, Tampa Bay scored three runs in the third and added two in the fourth. But in the sixth inning, Minnesota came back and scored twice on a homerun by Larnach. The team then rallied for four runs in the seventh (2-run double, 2-run single) and added two more in the eighth on a homerun by Caleb Hamilton. Tampa Bay, which outhit Minnesota 12-8, scored three more runs in the bottom of the ninth, but that was to be it.

At Salt River Fields at Talking Sticks in Scottsdale, Texas Rangers visited Colorado Rockies and lost 4-3. Sherten Apostel was the starting third baseman for Texas and was 0-for-2, but he batted in a run. Texas opened the score in the top of the second inning. With one out, Matt Duffy singled and Scott Heineman doubled. Hereafter, Duffy scored on a grounder by Apostel. Texas added a run in the third inning and Apostel got his second at bat in the fourth. He then lined out to centerfield. In the top of the sixth inning, with two outs and two runners on base, Apostel was replaced by pinch-hitter Josh Jung, who lined out to rightfield. Jung also took over as third baseman. Texas scored its third run in the top of the seventh. Moments later, Colorado scored its first run in its seventh, then added three runs in the eighth on a 3-run homerun by Bret Boswell.

At Peoria Stadium in Peoria, San Diego Padres played at home against Cleveland Indians and recorded an 8-0 shutout-win. Jurickson Profar was the starting second baseman for San Diego and was 0-for-2. Profar led off the second inning and hit a line drive, but that was caught by leftfielder Greg Allen. In the bottom of the fourth, with one out, Manny Machado walked and Eric Hosmer singled. Both runners advanced on a grounder by Profar, then Machado scored the first run when next batter Josh Naylor reached on an error. In the top of the sixth, Profar was replaced by Breyvic Valera. Texas doubled its lead in the bottom of the sixth when Wil Myers led off with a homerun. The team rallied for four runs in the seventh, including an one-out lead-off homerun by Edward Olivares. Two more runs were added in the eighth.

At Camelback Ranch-Glendale in Phoenix, Los Angeles Dodgers played at home against Los Angeles Angels and won 9-4. The Dodgers broke an 1-1 tie by scoring two runs in the sixth inning. The Angels then scored three runs in the top of the eighth. Trailing 4-3, the home-team rallied for six runs in the bottom of the eighth. In the top of the second inning, Kenley Jansen pitched for the Dodgers. He had a great outing, as he struckout Michael Hermosillo, Luis Rengifo and José Rojas. With the Dodgers leading 3-1, German pitcher Markus Solbach made his Spring Training-debut in the eighth. The 28-year old righthander (uniform number 40) began with a strikeout. But with two outs, he gave up two singles, then a homerun to Livan Soto, which gave the Angels the lead. With that, Solbach was credited with a Blown Save. Moments later, he became the winning pitcher, as the Dodgers scored six runs in the bottom of the eighth. A balk accounted for the tying run, then the Dodgers took the lead on a 2-run triple by Luke Raley, then three runs were added on a homerun by Cody Thomas.

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