{"id":404909,"date":"2026-07-20T03:04:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T03:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/404909\/"},"modified":"2026-07-20T03:04:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T03:04:10","slug":"eliezer-alfonzo-delivers-emotional-first-hit-in-dodgers-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/404909\/","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

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 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

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

His teammates made sure to get the ball back. And Teoscar Hern\u00e1ndez 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 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

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, Shohei 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","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":2,"featured_media":404910,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[140061,426,162396,144977,423,4468,48,52,51,47,50,49,3289,77128,162397,2667,2668,47318,430,116248,24642],"class_list":["post-404909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-anthony-volpe","tag-dodgers","tag-doubleheader-sunday","tag-eliezer-alfonzo","tag-game","tag-inning","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-loss","tag-major-league-debut","tag-major-league-side","tag-morning","tag-run","tag-stability","tag-week","tag-yankee-stadium","tag-yankees"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=404909"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404909\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/404910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=404909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=404909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=404909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}