Kansas City Royals Edinson Volquez' Father Dead Before World Series Against New York Mets

Daniel Volquez, the father of Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Edinson Volquez, died Tuesday, a few hours before Edinson was scheduled to pitch Game 1 of the World Series against the New York Mets, in which the Royals won 5-4.

The 63-year-old father, who introduced his son to the game of baseball, had been dealing with heart disease, as he passed away due to complications of the heart condition, as reported by ESPN. He died in his native Dominican Republic.

Although there are conflicting reports about when the pitcher learned of his father's death, Kansas City Royals PR reported that the Volquez family asked the Royals not to tell the Royals' pitcher of his father's death until he left the game, while Manager Ned Yost went with the assumption that Volquez was unaware of his father's death:

"I don't have any idea when he found out," Yost said, according to USA Today. "You know, we found out about it before the game and the wishes of the family was, you know, let Eddie pitch. So I was kind of keeping my eye, didn't want him to hear about it, I was keeping my eye on him. And he was fine. He didn't know, and I guess after the game is when he found out."

Yost also said the Volquez left before the game ended to visit his home in Dominican Republic. It is uncertain as to when Volquez will return to the team to continue the World Series.

The 11-year veteran, Edinson Volquez pitched a perfect first and gave up three runs through three innings, as reported by DeadSpin.

According to Mercury News, Volquez's father is the third parent of a Royals player to die in the past three months; he is the second Royals pitcher who lost his father in one month.

On September 26, Chris Young lost his father, Charles, to cancer, while Royals' third baseman, Mike Moustakas lost his mother, Connie to cancer on August 9.