{"id":946680,"date":"2026-07-20T03:45:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T03:45:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/946680\/"},"modified":"2026-07-20T03:45:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T03:45:19","slug":"eliezer-alfonzo-delivers-emotional-first-hit-in-dodgers-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/946680\/","title":{"rendered":"Eliezer Alfonzo delivers emotional first hit in Dodgers’ loss"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

NEW YORK\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Eliezer Alfonzo<\/a> jumped on a first-pitch cutter, keeping his hands inside to send it into shallow center field.<\/p>\n

Two weeks after making his major league debut under tragic circumstances, Alfonzo recorded his first hit.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe guys have been supporting me, pushing me every day,\u201d Alfonzo said. \u201cAnd they told me, you\u2019re going to get it here at Yankee Stadium, it\u2019s going to be really good.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n

It was a heartwarming moment early in the Dodgers\u2019 2-1 loss<\/a> to the New York Yankees in the second game of Sunday\u2019s doubleheader. By dropping the series finale after an 8-2 win<\/a> in the opener, the Dodgers settled for a series win instead of sweep at Yankee Stadium.<\/p>\n

With starting catcher Will Smith sidelined indefinitely because of a neck injury, Alfonzo has served as the backup to Dalton Rushing<\/a> for the last two weeks.<\/p>\n

The morning of Alfonzo\u2019s debut, his sister and stepmother, who had been missing since two powerful earthquakes devastated Venezuela last month, were found dead<\/a>. Alfonzo still played, honoring them on the field.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was good to see him shorten up and get a knock,\u201d manager Dave Roberts<\/a> said. \u201cObviously he has gone through a lot so it was good to get that first major-league hit here. Behind the plate, he\u2019s been great.\u201d <\/p>\n

Alfonzo\u2019s familiarity with the Dodgers\u2019 pitching staff from spring training has helped provide some stability in Smith\u2019s absence. But he had yet to contribute at the plate, going 0 for 9.<\/p>\n

Until the third inning of Sunday\u2019s nightcap.<\/p>\n

Alfonzo rounded first base, kissed his closed right hand and pointed to the sky. Then he turned to the visitors dugout, grinned and lifted both fists above his head.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first thing I said, as soon as I saw the ball going through, [was] \u2018Thanks, God, for this,\u2019\u201d Alfonzo said.<\/p>\n

A pitching change later in the inning, after Shohei Ohtani<\/a> singled, gave Alfonzo a chance to grab a drink of water outside the dugout. His teammates flocked to him, reaching over the railing for high-fives. <\/p>\n

Ohtani, who Alfonzo said had encouraged him with \u201cLet\u2019s get the first hit today\u201d before the game, greeted him with: \u201cCongratulations! I told you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Notching his first major-league hit at Yankee Stadium was even sweeter, Alfonzo said, because of his grandmother\u2019s affinity for the Yankees. <\/p>\n

His teammates made sure to get the ball back. And Teoscar Hern\u00e1ndez<\/a> held it up to show him.<\/p>\n

Alfonzo\u2019s two-out single didn\u2019t start a rally. But in the bottom of the fourth, he helped squash one.<\/p>\n

Dodgers right-hander Edgardo Henriquez<\/a> was on the mound as their third pitcher in a bullpen game, and his command was faltering, to the tune of back-to-back walks and a wild pitch. Then with runners on second and third, he induced Jos\u00e9 Caballero to hit a grounder to third baseman Max Muncy.<\/p>\n

Anthony Volpe, the Yankees\u2019 runner on third, took off on contact. Muncy threw on the run to Alfonzo, who was set up on the inside of the basepath. Alfonzo made a diving tag on Volpe to prevent a run.<\/p>\n

\"Dodgers <\/p>\n

Dodgers catcher Eliezer Alfonzo, right, tags out Yankees baserunner Anthony Volpe at the plate in the fourth inning Sunday.<\/p>\n

(Jim McIsaac \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The Dodgers (63-37) used seven pitchers, the first six combining to limit the Yankees (55-44) to Cody Bellinger\u2019s first-inning RBI single for seven innings. Brock Stewart had a standout performance, entering in the fifth with no outs and the bases loaded and retiring three straight batters. He then threw a clean sixth. Alex Vesia struck out the side in the seventh.<\/p>\n

Utility man Tommy Edman\u2019s pinch-hit homer in the eighth tied the score, but with two men on, Ohtani struck out and Andy Pages popped out against Yankees closer David Bednar. In the bottom half, Yankees star Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit a solo homer off Evan Phillips to regain the lead. Freddie Freeman led off the ninth with a walk, but Bednar retired the next three Dodgers to end it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think everyone\u2019s pleased with the results of the series,\u201d Phillips said. \u201cBut I think what we do well here as a team is treat games individually and just go out there and try to perform well as a group each and every game. So sure, you can look back on the series and reflect and say this was a quality series, but I think everybody\u2019s disappointed about the loss.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Eliezer Alfonzo jumped on a first-pitch cutter, keeping his hands inside to send it into shallow center…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":946681,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5123],"tags":[5243,1582,276,2442,381128,350406,1910,3688,2961,224,5337,5948,25267,381129,15978,10201,7840,2452,43782,2386],"class_list":["post-946680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-anthony-volpe","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-dodgers","tag-doubleheader-sunday","tag-eliezer-alfonzo","tag-game","tag-inning","tag-la","tag-los-angeles","tag-losangeles","tag-loss","tag-major-league-debut","tag-major-league-side","tag-morning","tag-run","tag-stability","tag-week","tag-yankee-stadium","tag-yankees"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116950253672037767","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/946680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=946680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/946680\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/946681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=946680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=946680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=946680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}