A family emergency forced David Ortiz to leave Sunday’s Boston Red Sox game early, according to manager John Farrell.
“He got called away from this game,” Farrell told reporters after the game. “There was a family emergency that he had to attend to, and he jumped on a flight late (Sunday) afternoon. He should meet us in Pittsburgh, but this is something that he had to get to.”
Catcher Christian Vazquez pinch-hit for Ortiz in the seventh inning of the Red Sox’s eventual 8-4 win over the Kansas City Royals and proceeded to strike out and ground into a double play in his two at-bats. Ortiz went 0-for-3 with two K’s before exiting.
The Red Sox open a three-game series against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday.
UPDATE (2 p.m. Wednesday): Ortiz tweeted Wednesday that the emergency he was attending to was a family funeral.
[tweet https://twitter.com/davidortiz/status/511536915506794496 align=’center’]
