Royals’ Volquez in Dominican Republic for father’s funeral

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Royals pitcher Edinson Volquez, whose father died shortly before he started Game 1 of the World Series, was in the Dominican Republic on Wednesday to attend the funeral.

Volquez plans to rejoin the team when it heads 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,” he said.

The Royals and Mets have a day off Thursday. Game 3 is set for Friday night at Citi Field.

Daniel Volquez, 63, died of heart failure Tuesday. It was the elder Volquez who introduced his son to the game, even purchasing the boy his first glove — a Pedro Martinez model.

“I can definitely understand what he’s going through right now,” said Royals third baseman Mike Moustakas, whose mother, Connie, died of cancer in August. “When someone loses a family member, that takes priority over everything that happens. Baseball is baseball, but family, things that happen like that — that’s something that is more important than baseball.”

Volquez allowed three runs over six innings in the opener Tuesday night, keeping the Royals in the game long enough for them to tie the game in the bottom half. The Mets pulled ahead later, but Alex Gordon’s home run in the ninth inning kept the game going.

The Royals eventually prevailed 5-4 in 14 innings.

Afterward, Volquez and his family spent some private time in manager Ned Yost’s office, and a few teammate spoke to him briefly before he departed the clubhouse.

“He’s going to be missed the next couple of days. Whenever he decides to come back, whenever he’s comfortable, we’re going to be here waiting for him with open arms,” said left-hander Danny Duffy, who pitched in relief after Volquez left the game.

“I came in from pitching I saw him in here and I said, ‘Volky, great job,'” Duffy said. “He’d already showered and I said, ‘What’s going on?’ He told me and I couldn’t put words to it, man.”

Yost established a contingency plan with assistant coaches Don Wakamatsu and Pedro Grifol in the event Volquez 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.

As perfect as could be, given the circumstances.

“For all the stuff that’s happened this year to all of our parents, and a couple other people that have had some bad luck with their families, it has to bring us closer together,” Moustakas said, standing not far from Volquez’s locker. “This is our family.”