The morning after his throwing error led to his team’s losing a game to the Chicago White Sox, Cleveland’s Yu Chang tweeted on Tuesday about racist messages he had received on social media in reaction to the mistake.
“Exercise your freedom of speech in a right way,” Chang said of the messages. “I accept all comments, positive or negative but DEFINITELY NOT RACIST ONES. Thank you all and love you all.”
The tweet included screenshots of hateful messages and the hashtag #StopAsianHate. Two of the accounts Chang highlighted appear to have been deleted, and a third was made private.
Yu Chang received racist messages on social media after this throwing error. It was just his fifth career start at first base. pic.twitter.com/1WvNq3kiAQ
Chang, 25, is Taiwanese. He has played parts of three seasons for Cleveland, and Monday’s game was just his fifth career start at first base. The messages came as the United States is experiencing an unnerving increase in reports of anti-Asian violence.
The play in question came in the ninth inning of a game that was tied at 3-3. Chang, who has primarily played third base, fielded a one-out grounder from Nick Williams and tried to force Yasmani Grandal out at second base. Chang’s throw glanced off Grandal’s helmet and skipped over to the left side of the infield, allowing Nick Madrigal, who had entered the game as a pinch-runner for Chicago, to score from second.
Devers Continues to Roll as Red Sox Top Twins
Rafael Devers homered for the fourth straight game and the streaking Boston Red Sox beat the Minnesota Twins, 4-2, on a snowy Tuesday afternoon in a series opener moved back following the fatal police shooting of a Black man in a nearby suburb.
Hunter Renfroe hit a solo homer and Bobby Dalbec added a pair of R.B.I. doubles as Boston won its seventh in a row after losing its first three games of the season.
Monday’s game was postponed because of safety and sensitivity concerns in the Twin Cities after the police shooting a day earlier of Daunte Wright during a traffic stop. The Twins held a moment of silence for Wright before Tuesday’s game.
Snow flurries fell for most of the game and it was 33 degrees for the first pitch. That made for the third-coldest start at Target Field — the record being 27 degrees on April 7, 2018.
Adam Ottavino (1-0) earned the win with a scoreless inning of relief. Matt Barnes pitched a perfect ninth for his first save of the season.
Randy Dobnak (0-2) took the loss for Minnesota, which has lost three in a row.
Christian Arroyo led off the eighth against Dobnak with a double and scored on Dalbec’s second double of the game to right field to break a 2-all tie. Arroyo had two hits and scored on both of Dalbec’s doubles.
Devers hit a long home run in the ninth off Jorge Alcala. Devers started the season 0 for 13 but is 9 for 22 (.409) since — he has five home runs and 10 R.B.I. in his last four games. (AP)
Mariners Win in Extra Innings (Again)
Kyle Seager hit an R.B.I. double in the eighth and the Seattle Mariners won their third extra-inning game in three tries this season, beating the Baltimore Orioles, 4-3, Tuesday in the first game of a doubleheader.
Seager, who has reached base in nine of his last 10 plate appearances, laced a one-out double to center off Tanner Scott (0-1). That scored Mitch Haniger, who opened the extra frame as the automatic runner on second base.
Seattle won its third in a row. The Orioles have dropped four straight and six of seven since opening with a three-game road sweep of Boston.
Rafael Montero (1-0) earned the victory despite surrendering the lead in the seventh inning. Kendall Graveman pitched the eighth for his first career save.
Ty France and Tom Murphy both homered for Seattle.
Justus Sheffield, who was originally scheduled to face Baltimore on Monday before the game was rained out, didn’t allow a ball out of the infield in the first four innings. He yielded two runs and three hits, including Ramón Urias’ two-run homer in the fifth, while striking out five over six innings. (AP)
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