Houston Astros manager Joe Espada missed Sunday's loss to the Athletics with what was called a family emergency, with bench coach Omar Lopez saying Espada had "probably one of the worst nights of his life [Saturday night]."
Lopez, who managed the Astros in Espada's absence, would not go into specifics, only to say Espada, 50, has been dealing with something for the last few weeks and that he "had to leave."
"I just talked to him very briefly; he's not feeling well," Lopez told reporters. "He's very heartbroken how he's going through this situation with his family."
Ortiz said Espada is expected to rejoin the Astros in time for Tuesday's game at the New York Yankees.
"People don't know that or realize that when he steps up here every night and also prepares himself to manage, that's not an easy thing and a lot of people don't know that," said Lopez, who managed Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic. "People, a lot of times, are really hard on people when they don't know what's going on in our lives.
"We're human; we have another life, too. We all have to go through issues and problems, but my job as a bench coach is to support Joe and make sure he's mentally and physically strong every single day to help this team, to help the entire organization move on to the next step."
The Astros fell to below .500 at 65-66 with Sunday's loss and are tied with the Texas Rangers atop the American League West. Houston holds the tiebreaker based on its 9-4 edge in head-to-head matchups with the Rangers this season.
