Bittersweet reunion: Fletcher brothers face each other for 1st time in majors after father’s death

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — David and Dominic Fletcher got to play against each other for the first time in a major league game. Fittingly, it came at a stadium where they had watched plenty of games while growing up.

Unfortunately, the Fletcher brothers’ biggest fan was not in attendance Friday night when David’s Los Angeles Angels hosted Dominic’s Arizona Diamondbacks at Angel Stadium.

Their father, Tim, died suddenly earlier this month. He was 60.

“This would have been one of his proudest moments,” Dominic Fletcher said. “Every night he turned on the TV and had both of our games going on simultaneously. To be able to be here and watch would have been one of his favorite things.”

The Fletcher brothers grew up in Orange, California, and played together for one year at Cypress High School, which is 10 miles (16.09 kilometers) from Angel Stadium. At 29, David Fletcher is the older brother by four years.

They also played together for Italy in the World Baseball Classic. Their mother, Fernanda Fletcher, was born in Italy.

Both were in their team’s lineup on Friday night in the opener of a three-game series, won by the Diamondbacks 6-2. Dominic, playing left field and batting sixth, had a base hit in the eighth inning and was 1 for 4 while David was 0 for 2 before being lifted in the seventh inning. He was at shortstop and hitting ninth.

“It’s awesome. It’s something that we kind of thought would happen one day and could be a special series,” David said.

Angels manager Phil Nevin — who has two sons in professional baseball — said he couldn’t imagine what it would be like for a parent to be able to do that.

“It’s got to be really a special moment for their family and what’s going on with them over the last couple of weeks,” he said. “It’s a tragedy in the family, but then for them to get together like this, it was like it was meant to be. I’ll probably have some emotions with it tonight as well.”

David Fletcher remained in Southern California and attended Loyola Marymount before being drafted by the Angels in the sixth round in 2015.

Dominic Fletcher was a second-round pick by the Diamondbacks in 2019 after a successful career at Arkansas. He was called up for his second stint this season with the Diamondbacks after All-Star outfielder Corbin Carroll sustained a shoulder injury during Thursday’s game against Tampa Bay.

“When he called me, I kind of knew what it was about,” David said. “Pretty cool to hear about the call-up.”

The two faced each other in four games earlier this season in Triple-A, along with three games last season when David was on a rehab assignment.

David began this season on the major league roster, but was sent down in the middle of April after a slow start. He was called back up last Saturday after hitting .383 at Salt Lake.

“I think it’s great. It’s good for baseball. It’s a great story. And they need that,” Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said. “They’ve been through a lot over the past couple weeks. Getting them on the same field at the same time, I think there was some divine intervention somewhere along the way.”

Lovullo said Dominic could be staying in the big leagues longer this time. He was sent down in late May despite hitting .308 with two homers and 13 RBIs in 22 games.

“The way we sent Fletch down, it means you’ve got depth and good baseball players inside of your system. It wasn’t an easy conversation. I can tell that he wasn’t ready for that conversation, nor was he expecting it, nor should he. But he accepted it, went down and continued doing his job.

“A lot of times we make mistakes, and if we do make mistakes and send down the wrong guy, we can reverse it. And I think that’s what’s going on right now.”

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