The Atlanta Braves’ Truist Field might have provided a little too much of a home-field advantage on Friday.
Houston Astros slugger Yordan Álvarez left a game at the Braves abruptly in the fifth inning with the team citing an “illness” as the reason why. It later announced that Álvarez had been hospitalized:
Astros manager Dusty Baker shed some light on the situation after the game when he revealed that Álvarez had a shortness of breath exacerbated by Atlanta’s in-game fireworks. Fortunately, Álvarez was reported to be in stable condition.
From the Associated Press:
“He’s being analyzed by the doctors,” Baker said. “They said all his vitals are good. He’s feeling normal but he still has to see our doctor. He was just, he had shortness of breath, and then when they shot the fireworks off, the smoke kind of made it worse.
“I’m glad we got him out when we did because I looked up and he was in the dugout and it was kind of a scary moment because it could be anything, but they said he’s doing fine at the moment.”
Baker reportedly added that the team didn’t even see that Álvarez, who was playing left field, was in distress until he reported to the dugout.
The Braves would eventually win the World Series rematch 6-2, although the Astros’ 77-44 record remains the best in the American League.
Álvarez, who signed a six-year, $115 million contract extension in June, is in the middle of a career year at the plate, entering Friday hitting .297/.401/.616 with 31 homers for the first-place Astros. In a league without Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani, he would be getting serious MVP consideration.