Phil Nevin back with Yanks after COVID-19, loss of 22 pounds

NEW YORK (AP) — Phil Nevin’s voice cracked and his face flushed. Forced from the New York Yankees third base coaching box by the coronavirus and infections, he also had to miss his son’s major league debut.

“We had talked about that day for a long time,” Nevin said Friday when he rejoined the Yankees for the first time since May 9. “Not to be able to see him right after the game, now that part, that gets you a little bit, because we’ve talked about it for so long, I told my other son, l go: 'I can still get this day back. No pressure.'”

Nevin, who also suffers from asthma, said he lost 22 pounds and was diagnosed with a bacterial infection in his kidneys and a staph infection. He still has an IV line in an arm that has to be removed before he can be back on the field, but he hoped to be cleared to be in the dugout for Friday night’s series opener against Boston.

His last game at third was May 9 — Mother’s Day — against Washington. The 50-year-old learned of the COVID-19 diagnosis that night during the Yankees’ flight to Florida. The next day he felt OK, and he recalled telling pitching coach Matt Blake at the team hotel: “Hey, there’s no security down there watching us. ... Why don’t we go down for a little walk?”

When Nevin got tired after 15 minutes, Blake — without telling Nevin — called Yankees athletic trainer Timothy Lentych, who ordered blood tests at a hospital on Tuesday morning. That night, as the Yankees started a series opener at the Rays, Nevin got a call telling him: “Get to the hospital right away.”

“There was an infection we thought was just located in my kidneys as they weren’t functioning properly. Some liver issues going on,” Nevin said. “I knew what it meant: Your body can turn septic.”

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source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Phil-Nevin-back-with-Yanks-after-COVID-19-loss-16226080.php