News of Farquhar's brain hemorrhage shocks White Sox
"It crushes us in this clubhouse."
That was the reaction from Chicago White Sox starting pitcher James Shields on Saturday, roughly 18 hours after teammate Danny Farquhar collapsed in the dugout moments after pitching two-thirds of an inning of relief against the Houston Astros.
According to the Sox, Farquhar suffered a brain hemorrhage during the sixth inning of Friday night's game.
Additional overnight testing at Rush University Medical Center revealed that a ruptured aneurysm caused the brain to bleed.
The 31-year-old Farquhar, who joined the White Sox's bullpen on Aug. 19 last season after being designated for assignment by the Tampa Bay Rays, was listed as stable but in critical condition in the neurosurgical ICU unit at Rush.
The Sox said Farquhar is continuing to receive treatment and close monitoring by Dr. Demetrius Lopes and the Rush neurosurgical team.
It was a frightening scene in the dugout Friday night and an understandably somber day after.
"All spring training we were sitting next to each other, and every day we're in the bullpen together, playing catch, running together, everything," White Sox relief pitcher Hector Santiago said. "And you watch the TV in the bullpen and you see him go down, you don't know what's going on when you're out there. You can't see what's happening really, and you come to find out he's in critical condition.
"You just pray for him. Pray for his family, pray for his kids. I mean, we're in here worrying about him, but you can only do so much from our side of it. So just pray for the family and him and hope for the best."
Farquhar, who has played for the Blue Jays, Mariners, Rays and White Sox over seven major-league seasons, is married with three children.
His wife, Lexi, and mother attended Friday night's game.
While Farquhar's family and the Sox await additional word on his condition, manager Rick Renteria is encouraged by the quick action taken by paramedics, trainer Herm Schneider and assistant trainer Brian Ball.
Renteria also said it was fortunate Farquhar was surrounded by trained medical personnel instead of, say, being on the road alone in a hotel room at the time of the brain hemorrhage.
"I think that was probably the key to his being able to get treated," Renteria said. "When he left here he had a strong heartbeat, a good pulse and he was breathing well. EMTs came in and made sure they gave him oxygen and they got him on the gurney and before he left he was conscious.
"He was able to speak to his wife a little bit (Friday). Right now he's being treated and hopefully it's all going to be good."
Typically talkative Sox pitching coach Don Cooper was understandably brief when addressing the situation.
"It's shocking," Cooper said. "It's sad. My prayers are with Danny, his family and the doctors that are treating him.
"He's alive. He's got a chance, and that's what I'm hanging on to. And prayers are more necessary than talk."
Farquhar's uniform No. 43 was hanging in the White Sox's dugout Saturday night, and many of the right-hander's teammates had his initials and number written on their caps.
"Nothing really matters baseball-wise when something like that happens, you know?" Shields said. "When you see one of your brothers go down like that, it's not very fun to watch. He's such a resilient human being and we're praying for him.
"Baseball doesn't matter when it comes to something like that. All that matters is family and life, and like I said he's a brother of ours, he's a great teammate, and you don't ever want to see one of your brothers go through something like that. We're praying for him."
Shields said the thought of not playing Saturday night's game came up, but Farquhar would "probably want us to keep rolling."
"After the game (Friday) night we were thinking about going over to the hospital, early this morning we were texting in our group chat trying to see if we can get over there and see him," Santiago said. "Obviously, that's the most you can do; you can't go there and help, but we're more worried about what's going on with him and his family than worrying about this game right now.
"Tonight's game, we're definitely playing for him and trying to support him and his family, but we can't do too much out here at the baseball field for him."