PITTSBURGH – If you thought this Braves season couldn’t get any more strangely compelling, there was a bizarre turn Thursday when Erick Aybar got a chicken bone stuck in his throat and had to be taken to a nearby medical facility.
The veteran shortstop was eating lunch in the visitor’s clubhouse shortly after arriving at PNC Park on Thursday when he swallowed a piece of bone that apparently lodged in his throat, so far down that he couldn’t reach it.
He was sedated for a procedure to remove the bone, but by then it had dislodged and was no longer in his throat. Aybar returned to PNC Park and was unavailable for Thursday night’s game against the Pirates because of the earlier sedation.
“He got a bone or something stuck in his throat, and I think they’re going to have to sedate him to get it out,” Braves interim manager Brian Snitker said before batting practice. “That poor guy had to be scared to death. He looked OK when he left, but I don’t think he’s feeling very good. Let’s just hope everything works out all right.”
One Braves player said there was some blood coming from Aybar’s mouth, and that the bone was so deep in his throat that he couldn’t lift his shoulder because of the discomfort.
Aybar had been in the original lineup but was scratched and replaced by Daniel Castro.
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