Cincinnati Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz and Seattle Mariners reliever Trent Thornton got sick Saturday while playing in the extreme heat that covered much of the United States.
De La Cruz vomited on the field with two outs in the fourth inning of Cincinnati’s extra-inning loss against the Cardinals in St. Louis. He was checked on by an athletic trainer, and two workers from the grounds crew cleaned up the area.
“I actually watched him. He drank a bunch of water. I mean a bunch,” Reds manager Terry Francona said, “and then he went right out and got rid of it.”
The 23-year-old De La Cruz, who is from the Dominican Republic, stayed in the game and hit a two-run homer in the seventh.
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Thornton pitched 2⅓ scoreless innings for Seattle before departing in the eighth as the Mariners lost 10-7 to the Cubs in Chicago. The 31-year-old right-hander had to be helped off the field.
Mariners manager Dan Wilson said Thornton had “a little bit of a heat-related illness.”
“It was a scary moment, for sure,” Wilson said. “He battled hard. But just really glad that he’s feeling a little bit better now and should be OK.”
The game-time temperature for the Reds at Cardinals was 92 degrees, and it was 94 for the first pitch of the Mariners’ loss to the Cubs. Milwaukee’s game at Minnesota was played under an excessive heat warning, and the Rockies said the first-pitch temperature of 98 degrees for their game against the Diamondbacks at Coors Field was highest for a major league game this season.
Seattle and Chicago finished their game with three umpires after Chad Whitson got sick. Dexter Kelley moved from second base to home plate.
Whitson was treated in the Mariners’ dugout.
“He came in, same kind of thing. Just was not feeling well,” Wilson said. “Threw up a few times in the dugout, and then they came and took care of him from there. The heat was a real thing today, for sure.”
Whitson was dealing with some dehydration, but a Major League Baseball spokesman said he was doing better Saturday night and had been cleared to work third base for the series finale.
A Wrigley Field staffer had a heat-related medical issue right after Saturday’s game, according to a Cubs spokesman. He was tended to by medical personnel and walked off the field on his own.
The Cubs set up cooling and misting stations throughout Wrigley Field to help fans with the heat Saturday, along with additional emergency personnel. The team had similar plans in place for Sunday, along with bringing in a city bus to use as a cooling station on the street.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
