Rafael Marchán hits home run in Phillies' win over Braves

(AFP) Venezuela's Rafael Marchán hit his first home run of the season with a blast to right field in the Philadelphia Phillies' 5-4 victory over the Atlanta Braves in the second game of a doubleheader between the two teams on Thursday.

Marchán, 26, had his best performance of the season with two hits, three RBIs and a walk.

The San Cristobal native has played 13 games in 2025, seven less than his personal MLB best set in the 2021 season.

For the Braves, Venezuelan Ronald Acuña Jr. connected for two hits and drove in a run.

In the first game, played earlier at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, Atlanta defeated the Phillies 9-3 with two runs off Dominican Marcell Ozuna.

The Braves' Ozzie Albies, a native of Curacao, hit his sixth homer of the season, bringing his career total to 993 hits.

On the other side, six solid innings by Puerto Rican José Berríos (2-2) led the way to a convincing 12-0 victory by the Toronto Blue Jays over the Oakland Athletics at the Rogers Centre.

Berrios, 31, picked up his first win in his last seven games and the 101st of his MLB career since his debut in 2016.

Dominican Vladimir Guerrero Jr., meanwhile, fired his eighth home run, while third baseman Ernie Clement drove in five runs for Toronto.

With the win, the Blue Jays evened their record to 28 wins and 28 losses in third place in the American League East division.

In another result, the Tampa Bay Rays scored 10 runs between the seventh and eighth innings to prevail 13-3 over the Houston Astros.

The star of the game was the Dominican Junior Caminero, who drove in six runs with three hits, including his 11th home run of the season.

For the Astros, Venezuelan José Altuve (9) and Dominican Yanier Díaz (6) connected on home runs, but could not prevent defeat.

In the closing of a five-game MLB day, the Washington Nationals prevailed 9-3 over the Seattle Mariners in extra innings.

Dominican Luis Garcia Jr. had a four-hit, two-RBI night for the Nationals.