Washington Nationals rookie infielder Lucius Fox perfectly summed up his team’s ugly season to date when he vomited on the infield grass two pitches into Sunday’s 12-3 loss to the San Francisco Giants.
“Uh-oh!” MASN play-by-play man Bob Carpenter said as cameras captured Fox losing his lunch to the right of the pitcher’s mound while the crowd gasped. “Lucius Fox, sick to his stomach right behind the mound. It looked like he was trying to get off the field and he threw up right behind the Nats’ pitcher, and I don’t know how else to describe it.”
Thanks, Bob. That about covers it.
“Oh, my goodness, the third baseman Lucius Fox started to run off the field, and he is vomiting on the field right by the pitcher’s mound,” Giants radio play-by-play man Dave Flemming said. “I haven’t seen that in a long time. Oh, no. He may have to come out of this game, and they may need a hose out on the infield. That did not look good. We’re a mile above the playing field here in D.C., and we could see that just as clear as day.”
The 24-year-old was helped off the field and replaced at third base by Maikel Franco. He still managed to leave his mark on the game.
“We’re just going to play ball with a pile of vomit on the infield,” Flemming said before Pederson hit a solo home run to give the Giants the lead. “I hate to be that graphic, but that was intense.”
The Nationals Park grounds crew eventually attempted to wash away some of Fox’s mess with buckets of water between innings. Nationals fans on Twitter can expect to see the video of Fox throwing up quite a bit this season.
The Nats Park grounds crew has come out with buckets of water between innings to try to clean up the mess that remained to the right of the pitcher’s mound.
— Mark Zuckerman (@MarkZuckerman) April 24, 2022
After the loss, which dropped Washington to 6-12, Manager Dave Martinez said Fox was dealing with a stomach flu. He took some fluids before the game and felt well enough to play, but his body begged to differ. Fox, who made the Opening Day roster with a strong spring training, is still in search of his first major league hit. If he can match the exit velocity he displayed Sunday while bent over next to the mound with his bat, it should come sooner rather than later.