Royals expect Edinson Volquez to start Game 5

Edinson Volquez has flown to his Dominican Republic home to bury his father, but Kansas City Royals Manager Ned Yost said Wednesday that he expects Volquez to rejoin the team this weekend and start Game 5 of the World Series as scheduled.

“You can only imagine what he is going to be experiencing,” Royals General Manager Dayton Moore said Wednesday.

“For those of us that have lost parents, it’s a very difficult thing to face. But he’ll get through it. He’s a very optimistic, very positive person. He has an unbelievable outlook on life. It’s just one of those tough things in life that he’ll have to deal with day by day.”

Moore said he got a call from Volquez’s wife about two hours before game time on Tuesday, with the pitcher already at the ballpark preparing to start Game 1, informing him that Volquez’s father had died. Moore said the Royals left it to the family to decide how to handle the situation.

“The family felt it was best to have a discussion with him and break the news to him after the game,” Moore said. “We were prepared either way, for whatever the family wanted to do. It certainly took precedent over what we were experiencing as a baseball team.”

Yost said he had alerted Chris Young to be ready to start, just in case. Volquez pitched the first six innings of the game, and then his wife and brother and children were ushered into the Royals clubhouse.

“They all went into my office and shut the door,” Yost said.

Volquez was long gone by the time the Royals won, 5-4, in 14 innings. The World Series moves to New York this weekend, with Game 5 set for Sunday.

“Last thing Eddie told the guys last night when he left was, ‘I’ll see you in New York,’” Yost said.

Twitter: @BillShaikin