ATLANTA — Astros outfielder Yordan Alvarez was transported to an Atlanta hospital after becoming short of breath during the fifth inning of Friday’s 6-2 loss against the Braves.
Alvarez, 25, removed himself from the field with two outs in the fifth inning. Manager Dusty Baker said the team didn’t notice anything unusual about Alvarez’s condition until he suddenly appeared in the dugout.
“We didn’t see anything, he just came in the dugout,” Baker said. “We looked up and he was there. That was the reason for the action, because he came off the field. Then we had to take emergency measures and try to figure out what was going on. The emergency services came and took him to the hospital.”
Braves head athletic coach George Poulis and a baseball field paramedic walked across the field and the Astros clubhouse shortly after Alvarez left the field. After the game, Baker said Alvarez remained in the hospital but reported that the slugger felt “normal.”
“(Doctors) said all his vital signs are good, but he feels normal,” Baker said. “He still has to go to the emergency room doctor. He was short of breath. When they fired off the fireworks, the smoke made it worse. I’m glad we got him out when he did because I looked up and he was in the dugout. That was quite a scary moment and it could be anything. They said he was fine at the moment.”
Fireworks can often be seen in Truist Park after a Braves home run or an opponent strikeout. Both Baker and catcher Martín Maldonado mentioned the hazy conditions when discussing Alvarez’s departure from the game.
“I didn’t know what was going on. I saw him run off the field and I thought, I don’t know, my husband needs to go to the bathroom or maybe he’s not feeling well,” said starter Lance McCullers Jr.
“Of course I saw a bit of a scrum in the dugout, but I didn’t know if it was from trying to get someone to go into left field or what it was for. You get into the dugout and you hear that he is being evaluated and has to go to the hospital, it’s scary. We hope he’s okay.”
The Braves had two runners on base and McCullers had thrown one pitch to Vaughn Grissom when Alvarez left the game. Grissom threw the sacrifice off his foot and took a moment to walk away from the pain.
Before Grissom could step back into the penalty area, Alvarez sprinted into the dugout, causing temporary chaos as the Astros assessed Alvarez and found his replacement. Mauricio Dubón, who was hitting the bottom of the batting cage, quickly entered the game.
Baker declined to speculate on how long Alvarez could be absent or whether the Astros will have to make a roster ahead of Saturday’s game. Dubón also came out of the game in the sixth inning with a bruise to his left elbow, leaving Houston very thin in the outfield. Both Michael Brantley (shoulder) and Aledmys Díaz (groin) are also out of the game with injuries.
Alvarez is stuck in one of the worst slumps of his otherwise wonderful season. He struckout twice on Friday before leaving, reducing his OPS to .613 in 56 at bats in August. Alvarez cuts .214/.309/.304 this month, slump now clearly secondary to Friday’s scary sight.
“I’m not sure what to think, but we have a great medical staff and I saw their trainer running across the field with EMS,” said third baseman Alex Bregman. “Hopefully he gets the attention he deserves and hopefully he’ll be fine and healthy. We’ll be thinking about him all day today.”
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