Edinson Volquez returns to Dominican Republic for father’s funeral

Royals pitcher Edinson Volquez said Wednesday that he didn’t know whether he would be ready to play in the World Series once he returns to the U.S. following his father’s funeral in the Dominican Republic.

In Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Volquez said he was in a lot of pain as his eyes welled with tears while he attended his father’s memorial service a day before the funeral.

“Losing a loved one is hard,” he said. “My father was everything to me, and he supported me in everything throughout my career. We won the game, but I would have changed that if it meant he could still be alive.”

His father, 63-year-old Daniel Volquez, died of heart failure just before the right-hander started Game 1 of the World Series against the New York Mets on Tuesday night. Volquez said he learned about his father’s death after he was replaced. He allowed three runs over six innings.

“My wife was waiting for me with the general manager and they told me what had happened after I finished working,” he said. “I want to thank my teammates for all their support, to (Johnny) Cueto and Yordano (Ventura), who were the first ones to call me.”

Volquez said he would return to the U.S. on Friday or Saturday. “But I don’t know if I’ll be ready for that appearance,” he said.

The Royals were hopeful that Volquez would rejoin them when they head to New York later in the week.

“Last thing Eddie told the guys last night when he left is, ‘I’ll see you in New York,’ ” Kansas City manager Ned Yost said before Game 2 Wednesday night. “I expect Eddie to be there and ready to go for Game 5.”

Yost established a contingency plan with coaches Don Wakamatsu and Pedro Grifol in the event Volquez found out about his father’s death before the game and decided he could not pitch. Game 4 starter Chris Young, who lost his father, Charles, to cancer a month ago, would have taken the mound against the Mets.

Young wound up throwing three innings in relief, earning the win in Game 1.

“Our plan for Chris Young was that if we needed him, we would use him 45 to 50 pitches, and he still would be available Game 4,” Yost said. “It would be just like a short start and coming back a day early. He hadn’t pitched in six days. We wanted to use Chris in that situation.”

By doing so, the Royals reserved Kris Medlen for long relief the next three games.

“It was just a perfect scenario there,” Yost said.

Don’t worry, Ben – Royals second baseman Ben Zobrist has been given marching orders from his wife, Julianna, if she happens to go into labor with their third child in the midst of the World Series.

“She said, ‘You just better hit a home run,’ ” Zobrist said before Game 2 on Wednesday.

She is due three days after Game 7 is scheduled to take place.

“It’s just a matter of I can only focus on one thing at a time anyway. She knows that. I’m one-tracked minded,” Zobrist said. “So she already kind of let me know, if we’re in the middle of a game, she’s probably not going to tell me what’s going on, and that’s fine, because I trust her and trust our family members around her.”

Of course, if there is some sort of complication, Zobrist would be there in an instant.

Julianna, a Christian music singer, has taken a light-hearted approach to the matter. She tweeted during Game 1, “If anything were to happen I would just take a selfie of me and the baby and text it to Ben after the game!”

One to watch – Tuesday’s opener was the highest-rated Game 1 since 2009 – the previous time a New York team played for the championship.

Kansas City’s 5-4, 14-inning win was watched by 14.9 million viewers, according to Fox. The game received a 9.0 rating and a 17 share.

The rating was the highest for Game 1 since an 11.9/19 for the Philadelphia Phillies’ 6-1 win over the Yankees in 2009. The viewership was the most since 15 million tuned in for San Francisco’s 11-7 victory over Texas in 2010.

The rating was up 22 percent from the 7.3/12 for San Francisco’s 7-1 romp over Kansas City in the first game last year and the viewers were up 22 percent from last year’s 12.2 million.

Kansas City was the highest-rated market at 57.3 – the highest in any market for an opener since at least 1996. New York was second at 26.2. The rating is the percentage of television homes tuned to a broadcast, and the share is the percentage watching among households with TVs on at the time.

This story was originally published October 28, 2015 at 9:08 PM with the headline "Edinson Volquez returns to Dominican Republic for father’s funeral."