News of Father?s Death Is Withheld From Royals Starter Edinson Volquez

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News of Father?s Death Is Withheld From Royals Starter Edinson Volquez

By DAVID WALDSTEIN OCT. 28, 2015

KANSAS CITY, Mo. ? About an hour before the first pitch of Game 1 of the World Series, Royals Manager Ned Yost went to Chris Young, the scheduled Game 4 starting pitcher, and told him he might have to start Game 1 instead.

Yost told Young in confidence that Daniel Volquez, the father of starting pitcher Edinson Volquez, had died of heart trouble during the day in the Dominican Republic. But he told Young, whose father died a month ago, not to say anything to Volquez, at the family?s request.

?It was very hard for me,? Yost said after the game. ?There is no road map, but you do what the family asks you to do, and it was real special to them that Eddy goes out and pitches this game.?

According to the Royals, Roandy Volquez, the pitcher?s wife, told General Manager Dayton Moore what had happened and asked him not to tell her husband until after he had finished pitching the biggest game of his career, his first World Series start. The team then asked the broadcasters on Fox not to announce the news, because Volquez routinely goes into the clubhouse between innings, and the broadcasts of the game are usually on.

Shortly after that, news reports began to circulate that Volquez?s father had died, and even as Volquez went to the mound unaware of what had happened, many people around him knew.

Volquez was removed from the game after the sixth inning, having pitched well. He allowed three runs and six hits in six innings of a very tight game that the Royals won, 5-4, in 14 innings.

?You see Eddy out there competing his butt off, and you keep thinking, ?Well, what?s coming next?? ? Yost said. ?The news is coming next. It kind of put a damper on things for us.?

After Volquez came out of the game, Yost said, he wondered if he should tell Volquez at that point to call his wife, but thought it was not his place. As it turned out, she was waiting for her husband in the clubhouse with Moore, who showed them into Yost?s office so they could have time alone.

Pitcher Jeremy Guthrie was in the clubhouse shortly afterward.

?He was noticeably shaken,? Guthrie said. ?He was not joking around like he usually does. He was very subdued and saddened. I patted him and told him I loved him.?

Volquez and his family left the stadium before the five-hour game ended.

Later, in the eighth inning, Joe Buck, the Fox announcer, reported the news to the viewers. According to a report in The Associated Press, Daniel Volquez had been battling a heart problem. He was 63.

Young?s father died in September, and the mother of Mike Moustakas, the third baseman, died in August.

?That?s our third brother who has lost a parent this year,? Guthrie said. ?I?ve never seen anything like it, where you have three teammates lose a parent in a single season and all three had to go out and perform their job first and then go through the mourning process.?

Edinson Volquez, 32, was signed by the Texas Rangers on Oct. 29, 2001. Three years ago, he told The San Diego Union-Tribune that it was the happiest moment of his life, which he shared with his mother and father. He described his upbringing in the Dominican Republic as a happy one that involved only school and baseball.

?It was good for me because my mom and dad always took care of me,? he said in the article. ?I started playing baseball when I was 9 or 10, and they took care of me. It was easy for me.?

Volquez originally signed under the name Julio Reyes, but in 2003, he revealed that his name was Edison Volquez. Four years after that, he added the N and became Edinson Volquez.

He has encountered many tumultuous moments in his career, including a 50-game suspension in 2010 for testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs. Volquez attributed it to fertility drugs. In 2009, he underwent Tommy John surgery.

He signed with the Royals as a free agent before the season and charmed his teammates and the fans throughout the season with his upbeat personality. He also pitched well enough, with a 13-9 record and 3.55 earned run average, to be named the Game 1 starter in the World Series.

Soon after the Royals won in dramatic fashion, Guthrie spoke to the team and delivered the news. Most of the players had been unaware.

?It just hits everybody hard,? first baseman Eric Hosmer said. ?You just get done walking off and winning a big ballgame, and you come in here and something like that happened to one of the guys in here. It?s never a good feeling. Unfortunately, we?ve felt that before this year, and you want to be there for him.?

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/28/s...dinson-volquez.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur