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(Story by Marco Stoovelaar) Zander Wiel hits second Spring Training-homerun Nederlands DUNEDIN / PORT CHARLOTTE, Florida / PEORIA / TEMPE, Arizona (USA) - On Thursday (February 27), a total of sixteen exhibition games were played in Spring Training, eight in Florida (Grapefruit League) and eight in Arizona (Cactus League). Five players from the Netherlands saw action on Thursday, being Calten Daal, Zander Wiel (both Minnesota Twins), Jonathan Schoop (Detroit Tigers), Andrelton Simmons (Los Angeles Angels) and Chadwick Tromp (San Francisco Giants). Schoop, Simmons and Wiel all started. Daal and Tromp were inserted later in their game. Zander Wiel hit his second Spring Training-homerun today. He hit his first one last Sunday. Wiel made his Spring Training-debut in 2018, playing in one game and was 0-for-1. Last year, he was 0-for-8 in nine games. So far this year, Wiel played in five games and is hiting 3-for-7 (.429). Also today, at Sarasota, Baltimore Orioles shutout Pittsburgh Pirates 13-0. Baltimore collected 19 basehits. One of them was a 2-run homerun by Czech catcher Martin Červenka (7th inning), which was hit first basehit of this Spring Training. Remarkably enough, Červenka recorded two basehits during Spring Training last year which also were homeruns! (February 27) 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)

At TD Ballpark in Dunedin, Minnesota Twins played an away-game at Toronto Blue Jays, which ended in a 3-3 after nine innings. Since its inaugural season in 1977, Toronto Blue Jays has prepared itself during Spring Training in Dunedin, Florida. The team first played its home games at Grant Field, which was built in 1930 and was named in honor of Dunedin Mayor Albert J. Grant in 1938. The stadium closed in 1989 and was replaced by Dunedin Stadium, which was built on the same site. The official name of the stadium was Dunedin Stadium at Grant Field. Due to sponsoring and naming rights, the stadium was named Knology Park in 2004-2008, then Florida Auto Exchange Stadium in 2010-2017. The past two years, it was Dunedin Stadium again. In November 2017, Toronto Blue Jays came to a new lease agreement for 25 years, which was approved by the City Commission. Starting in April last year, the stadium was completely renovated and was officially re-opened last Monday (February 24). In November last year, it was announced that TD Bank had acquired naming rights for the stadium, which is now called TD Ballpark. Zander Wiel was the starting first baseman for Minnesota and hit his second homerun of Spring Training. Wiel was 1-for-2. With one out in the top of the second inning, Wiel homered off of South Korean starting pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu to give Minnesota an early lead. In the fourth inning, Wiel grounded out to close the at bat. Wiel was replaced by Ryan Jeffers in the bottom of the sixth. Jeffers became the new catcher for Minnesota, while Gabe Snyder took over at first base. Also in the bottom of the sixth, Calten Daal entered the game for Minnesota as the new second baseman. Daal got his lone at bat in the top of the ninth with a 2-1 lead. With Brazilian Gabriel Maciel (lead-off double) on second base, Daal grounded out. Maciel later scored on a single by Matt Wallner to make it a 3-1 score. But in the bottom of the ninth, with two outs, Toronto tied the score on a basesloaded single by Kevin Smith.

At Charlotte Sports Park in Port Charlotte, Detroit Tigers visited a split-squad of Tampa Bay Rays and lost 6-3. Jonathan Schoop was the starting second baseman for Detroit and was 1-for-2. In the first inning, Schoop grounded out with runners on first and second base to end the inning. With one out and a runner on first base in the fourth at bat, Schoop singled, but the two runners were left behind. In the bottom of the sixth inning, Schoop was replaced by Harold Castro. Tampa Bay scored two runs in the first inning, then added two more in the second when Willy Adames homered. Trailing 5-0 in the top of the seventh, Detroit scored three runs, one on a single by Danny Woodrow and two on a homerun by Eric Haase.

At Tempe Diablo Stadium in Tempe, Los Angeles Angels played at home against San Diego Padres and lost 1-0. Andrelton Simmons was the starting short stop for Los Angeles and was 0-for-2. Jurickson Profar didn't play for San Diego today. In the bottom of the second inning, the at bat ended with a grounder from Simmons. In the fifth, Albert Pujols led off with a double for the Angels. With one out, his pinch-runner Arismendy Alcantara advanced to third base on another grounder from Simmons. But hereafter, he was left behind. In the top of the sixth, Simmons was replaced by D'Shawn Knowles, who became the new rightfielder. Alcantara remained in the game and took over the short stop-position from Simmons. San Diego, which left three runners behind in the first inning, opened the score in the fourth on a single by Taylor Trammell. And that would be the lone run in the game.

At Peoria Stadium in Peoria, San Francisco Giants visited a split-squad of San Francisco Giants and won 5-4. In the top of the eighth inning, with the score at 4-4, Sean Roby led off for San Francisco with a double and advanced to third base on a grounder by Rob Brantley. With two outs, Chadwick Tromp entered the game as pinch-hitter for designated hitter Joey Rickard, but he grounded out to end the inning. Tromp remained in the game as the new DH. San Francisco scored what would be the winning run in the top of the ninth on a basesloaded walk for Sean Roby.

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