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Illness Prompted Cespedes To Make Game-Delaying Trip To Bathroom Monday

By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak

DETROIT - In Monday's game between the Detroit Tigers and the Cincinnati Reds, there was a short delay before the top of the third inning as the teams prepared to resume game action only to see that there was no one in left field for the Tigers. Yoenis Cespedes was nowhere in sight.

The teams waited on the field for a minute or two until Cespedes emerged from the dugout and trotted out to his post. Many assumed Cespedes was late because of an ill-timed trip to the restroom.

Cespedes had indeed disappeared to the bathroom, Tigers manager Brad Ausmus confirmed Tuesday, but the visit was not intentionally ill-timed, Cespedes explained to CBS Detroit. Rather, Cespedes was ill.

Cespedes said he was late getting onto the field because he had felt sick to his stomach and needed to throw up. It was the same ailment that beset him about two weeks ago, when he made an early exit from a game against the Oakland Athletics for what the team described as flu-like symptoms.

Ausmus said he did not know how much time the umpires would have given the Tigers to get Cespedes back in the game but said the Tigers had utility man Andrew Romine getting ready to go in the game in case Cespedes could not return.

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