Taiwanese-American right fielder Stuart Fairchild on Wednesday night hit an RBI double and scored twice to keep Atlanta on the board before the Washington Nationals rallied for a 5-4 win.
The 29-year-old, whose mother is from Taiwan, had two hits for Atlanta, who had won three of four.
Michael Harris II led off the Braves’ third inning with a triple off the top of the wall in right. Fairchild doubled to center, scoring Harris, then stole third and scored on catcher Riley Adams’ throwing error to make it 2-1.
Photo: Brett Davis-Imagn Images / USA Today
In the fifth, Fairchild and Nick Allen walked and advanced to third on Austin Riley’s groundout off starter Mitchell Parker’s leg. Parker left the game, and Marcell Ozuna greeted Jackson Rutledge with a two-run double and the lead was 4-1.
Washington rallied against reliever Aaron Bummer in the seventh, before James Wood doubled home the go-ahead run in the eighth inning, helping the Nationals snap a seven-game losing streak.
In March, shortly before Fairchild was traded by the Cincinnati Reds, with whom he played two stints, he told the Central News Agency (CNA) he had not ruled out the possibility of playing for Taiwan in next year’s World Baseball Classic.
He and fellow Taiwanese-American outfielder Corbin Carroll of the Arizona Diamondbacks are both Seattle natives, and both turned down Taiwan’s offers to play in the 2023 World Baseball Classic.
Much like Carroll, whose mother moved to the US from Taiwan as a child, Fairchild’s mother came to the US when she was about 12 years old.
Fairchild told CNA that his mother rarely speaks Mandarin and that he knows little about Taiwanese culture, but hoped to learn more.
“I hope that people can embrace me and teach me about the culture a little bit,” he said at the time.
In other Wednesday night games, Shohei Ohtani, Andy Pages, Hyeseong Kim and Max Muncy each hit home runs as the Los Angeles Dodgers evened a three-game series against the visiting Athletics with a 9-3 victory.
Ohtani hit his 13th home run of the season leading off the bottom of the first inning, the 15th leadoff homer of his career.
The Japanese superstar is now one homer behind Carroll, who is in third place with 14 homers this season after briefly sharing the No. 1 spot. The New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge and the Philadelphia Phillies’ Kyle Schwarber are tied for first with 15 homers apiece.
The Colorado Rockies lost 8-3 to the Texas Rangers to become the first team to start 7-36 in the modern era (since 1901).
Elsewhere, the Minnesota Twins held off the Baltimore Orioles 6-3 in their early game before rallying past them 8-6 in the late game. The Phillies beat St Louis 2-1 in their early game, before falling 14-7 to the Cardinals in the second game.
The Milwaukee Brewers toppled the Cleveland Guardians 9-5, the Diamondbacks survived the San Francisco Giants 8-7, the Yankees pipped the Seattle Mariners 3-2, the Toronto Blue Jays defeated the Tampa Bay Rays 3-1 and the Pittsburgh Pirates blanked the New York Mets 4-0.
The Detroit Tigers outplayed the Boston Red Sox 6-5, the Chicago White Sox squeezed out a 4-2 win over the Reds, the Miami Marlins swam past the Chicago Cubs 3-1, the Houston Astros beat the Kansas City Royals 4-3 and the San Diego Padres held the Los Angeles Angels to 5-1.
Additional reporting by CNA and AP
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