I wish she was alive. Eliezer Alfonzo has

As the announcer called out his identify in the lineup, Eliezer Alfonzo hugged fellow Venezuelan Miguel Rojas before the catcher walked down the dugout to greet his teammates and coaches. The two had written messages on their caps in silver ink: On Alfonzo’s, “EyP, RIP,” the initials of his stepmother Patricia and his youthful sister Eliana. On Rojas’, a cross was drawn next to “Alfonzo” and below “Fuerza Matatan.” In other phrases, keep strong, Matatan, the nickname given to Alfonzo’s father, the previous major league catcher Eliezer “El Matatán” Alfonzo.

An unimaginable weight rested on his shoulders when Alfonzo stepped into the batter’s box to a standing ovation. Alfonzo’s stepmother and sister have been reportedly discovered lifeless after the earthquakes in Venezuela last month.

Alfonzo went 0-for-2 in an in any other case quiet Dodgers 5-2 loss to the Padres, though even in that efficiency, he discovered moments to mirror. His sister, he said after the sport, had a dream that she refused to inform him until it got here true.

“I’m pretty sure the dream was something about this. I wish she was alive to watch me play in the big leagues,” Alfonzo said. “But I know she’s in God’s side now, and she’s gonna protect me, and she’s gonna enjoy every moment that I’m gonna have.”

He honored his household’s loss by enjoying as if his sister have been sitting in the stands. Because if she have been right here, he said, she could be yelling from the stands, “Hit the ball hard!”

The Dodgers catcher had beforehand clung to hope that the 2, who had been reported lacking, could be discovered. His father had searched tirelessly for them, his hope bolstered when he discovered the household’s canine alive. Alfonzo’s father stayed in the nation, looking out, when the Dodgers called his son to let him know he’d be part of the staff.

The collection finale with the Padres ought to’ve been a pleased day. Most gamers who have toiled in the minor league system debut in entrance of applauding mates and household. Instead, Alfonzo’s first look, the end result of 9 tireless years, was somber , stricken by the grief overshadowing what ought to’ve been a joyous second in the Dodgers’ to the Padres.

Even supervisor Dave Roberts was misplaced for phrases.

“After today, it’s going to really hit him,” Roberts said. “All of us feel for him and his father, who I know, their family. It’s devastating.”

Alfonzo never thought of not enjoying today, despite the personal tragedy. He’s spoken with his brother and his father in Venezuela, who requested him to play in the collection finale for his sister. His agent, girlfriend and teammates, like Rojas, also helped Alfonzo method the sport calmly.

“What happened, unfortunately, is out of my hands and part of life,” he said in Spanish. “Only God knows why they happen. I went out there to honor my sister and my stepmother, and give my best in a difficult moment. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get the win, but you have to keep moving forward.”

Rojas, who spoke through reddened, teary eyes after the sport, is aware of the household effectively. He discovered from and performed against Alfonzo’s father in Venezuelan winter ball. And, in a nation struck by tragedy, this loss felt close to home.

“Everybody in Venezuela loves his dad,” Rojas said. “It’s really tough right now to put into context and to put into words. Just for him to be here today and making the decision that he was going to fulfill his childhood dream of playing in the big leagues, thinking about that and thinking about them and what happened over there and what his dad has to be going through right now by himself in Venezuela, it’s really tough.

“For me, I’m just going to support the whole family and especially Eliezer, because I know how hard it is to play like that. It’s been hard for me. Nothing happened to one of my family members, but as soon as I heard the news about them, it hit me as hard as if it were my family. I consider Eliezer Alfonso Sr. one of my close friends in baseball.”

In a manner, enjoying baseball helps convey happiness to those going through tragedy, Rojas said. He is aware of because he’s misplaced both his mother and father, but his household still asks him to play.

“This is how I make a lot of people happy in my family and people who know me,” he said. “This is not just my job. This is who I am.”

Against the Padres, Rojas helped break a five-inning hitless streak for the Dodgers (59-32), who lead MLB in batting average (.265), with a single in the fifth. However, by then, the staff had already discovered itself in a gap.

Emmet Sheehan gave up an RBI single to Padres’ middle fielder Jackson Merrill in the fourth inning. In the fifth, he pitched himself into a jam, giving up a successive stroll and double that put two runners in scoring place. With no room for error, Sheehan was rapidly changed by Jack Dreyer, who escaped the inning scoreless.

Sheehan (4-6) has now had 5 straight begins that lasted no more than 5 innings. But, having given up only one earned run in the collection nearer to the Padres (44-45), Sheehan’s start could possibly be seen as a step in the precise direction: only three hits and 5 strikeouts.

“I thought the first three innings were great,” Roberts said. “They really were. I thought the stuff was up, he was on the attack, you’re getting the swing-and-miss, getting the soft contact, he was great.”

However, feelings remained high on both sides. San Diego’s supervisor Craig Stammen and coach Ryan Goins have been ejected three pitches into the sport after arguing a check-swing call. The ejection appeared to spark the Padres back from a season-high eight-game dropping streak, though the Dodgers didn’t make the win straightforward at occasions.

The stress ratcheted up in the sixth when Shohei Ohtani and Andy Pages labored walks off Yuki Matsui, who changed JP Sears. The Padres switched pitchers again before Mookie Betts’ two-out at-bat, and the transfer paid off. Betts hit a routine flyball, and the inning — and the Dodgers’ momentum — ended.

After scoring in the fourth, San Diego prolonged its lead in the seventh courtesy of Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado. Tatis Jr. beat out a throw from Rojas to Freddie Freeman, driving in one run. And though the Dodgers challenged, the call was upheld. Then, two batters later, reliever Kyle Hurt threw a four-seam fastball down the center of the plate, and Machado rocketed the pitch to the middle subject wall past the grasp of a leaping Pages.

The Dodgers clawed back two runs in the seventh. Alex Freeland drove in one on a line-drive RBI-single. Ohtani added another one. Neither was enough to win, though it ensured the Dodgers weren’t blanked.

Shohei Ohtani loses his bat during the third inning Sunday.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

Still, the sport’s end result appeared minuscule when stacked against Alfonso’s personal tragedy and the earthquake’s destruction in Venezuela. And, as the nation and its people start to piece together the full toll of the destruction amid the rubble, the notion of enjoying baseball appears absurd in the wake of such tragedy.

“It’s not always easy, but sometimes getting on the field, competing, life goes to the wayside,” Roberts said. “And you can just compete and do your job, and that’s sort of a blessing. But yeah, to play every day, and to have to perform, it’s pressure in itself.”

But for the boys who have only identified how to play baseball since they have been younger, there’s little else to do.

“That’s the worst feeling, feeling selfish of being here and playing, and we look out there like we’re having fun and we’re laughing,” Rojas said. “At the end, when I put my head to bed after everything is over, after the show is over, it’s really hard to go to sleep. I’m pretty sure a lot of Venezuelans are going through the same thing.”