Dodgers catcher makes early exit after stomach bug strikes in dugout

DENVER –– It appeared the altitude got to Dodgers catcher Hunter Feduccia on Tuesday night.

That, or maybe the smash burger he had for lunch.

Feduccia was forced to leave the team’s 7-6 win over the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday night in the bottom of the seventh inning, after appearing to become ill behind the plate and throwing up in the dugout.

“He’s got this stomach bug or food poisoning, something like that,” manager Dave Roberts said afterward. “He was scuffling all game. So finally –– he went as long as he could go.”

Indeed, Feduccia was catching his second-straight game in this week’s series, and fourth in the last five days, when he finally gave way with one out in the seventh. 

After catching a slider from reliever Edgardo Henriquez for a strikeout to begin the inning, Feduccia doubled over behind the plate and looked like he was about to retch. 

He quickly raced off the field and back down the dugout stairs, but left behind a trail that required a stadium worker to later mop up near the team’s third-base bench.

“He gave us a great effort,” Roberts said.

Indeed, Feduccia was part of a second-straight resurgent performance from the Dodgers’ offense, drawing two early walks in their eventual series-clinching win.

The victory was also keyed by Shohei Ohtani, who followed Feduccia’s first free pass with his 30th home run of the season in the third; Freddie Freeman, Tommy Edman and Teoscar Hernández, who each had two hits and combined for three RBIs; and even Kyle Tucker, who snapped his career-worst 0-for-26 hitless streak with an RBI double in the fourth. 

Just as important, however, was a five-inning, four-run start from Eric Lauer (a passing grade at mile-high altitude) and four innings of two-run ball from the bullpen (punctuated by a four-out save from Tanner Scott).

Feduccia was crucial to that effort early, displaying his growing comfort level with the Dodgers’ big-league pitching staff.

The former unheralded prospect –– who was traded by the team at last year’s deadline, then reacquired this year to bolster the team’s banged-up catching depth –– has become the team’s primary backstop lately, starting for the ninth time in the last 14 games on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, however, he’ll get a deserved break.

“I think we’re just trying to hydrate him,” Roberts said postgame. “He’ll be down tomorrow.”

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