Giants, A’s honor Venezuela as deadly earthquakes roil several players’ homeland
San Francisco Giants outfielder Victor Bericoto had just three hits and one home run in his young MLB career before Thursday. Two games later, he has doubled his hit tally and added two more home runs, blasting both of them more than 440 feet including a walk-off homer Wednesday against the Athletics.
For a 24-year-old trying to make it in the Big Leagues, that kind of success would typically cause pure elation. But for Bericoto, of Maracay, Venezuela, the news of Wednesday evening’s pair of devastating earthquakes in his home country have made the moment bittersweet.
Ahead of Thursday afternoon’s 9-6 loss to the Athletics in San Francisco, Bericoto told reporters that his immediate family was safe, but that his brother’s girlfriend had been killed.
“Like all Venezuelans, I don’t think anyone was able to sleep,” Bericoto said in Spanish, according to MLB.com. “It’s been really hard to process everything that happened.”
At least 188 people have been killed and more than 1,500 were injured in the quakes, estimated at 7.5 and 7.2 magnitude and occurring within minutes about 6 p.m. local time Wednesday, according to the New York Times and other news outlets.
The quakes were the worst in Venezuela in almost 60 years, the New York Times reported.
Major League Baseball allowed Venezuelan players and staff to wear “VZ” stitches on their hats after the disaster. Three Giants — Bericoto, second baseman Luis Arraez and reliever Jose Butto — as well as A’s reliever Jose Suarez wore the “VZ” stitches Thursday. Giants bullpen catcher Eliezer Zambrano and A’s coach Ramon Hernandez also wore the stitches.
The Giants-A’s contest Thursday also began with a moment of silence for the victims of the earthquakes, according to A’s reporter Manolo Hernandez Douen.
‘We’re with them’
Bericoto said it has been difficult to be far away and unable to help those in Venezuela during the aftermath of the earthquakes, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
“It’s really sad to see entire families lose their homes, lose loved ones, lose everything that they had,” Bericoto said, according to the Chronicle. “The message that I can send to them is that we’re with them, our prayers are with them, and we are just hoping that everything gets better for them.”
Giants manager Tony Vitello said Thursday that he didn’t know Bericoto’s situation until after Wednesday’s game, saying it was impressive how he was able to hit the walk-off home run, given what was going on in his home country.
“To do that in that moment is pretty tough to put into words,” Vitello said.
Arraez, Butto know missing individuals
Vitello also acknowledged that all three of Bericoto, Arraez and Butto knew people who remain missing. Suarez, of Aguanagua, had not spoken publicly about the earthquakes as of Thursday afternoon.
Butto said his family is safe, but that at least one of his friends was missing while two others had been found unharmed in the rubble.
“I’m just hoping that they find him today,” Butto said Thursday morning, according to the Chronicle.
One of the buildings that was destroyed, the Hotel Eduard in La Guaira, was reportedly housing a Venezuelan baseball team, with the wife and daughter of former Giants catcher Eliezer Alfonzo and wife of former Giants outfielder Gorkys Hernandez among the missing. El Regional out of Venezuela was the first to report the news.
Both Arraez and Butto told the Chronicle that they knew members of the team.
“Right now, all of Venezuela is my family,” Arraez said, according to the Chronicle.
Arraez represented Team Venezuela earlier this year in the World Baseball Classic. Venezuela triumphed for the first time, defeating Team USA, 3-2, in the championship game in Miami.
