Boston Red Sox catcher Blake Swihart decided to play Thursday, a day after learning that his brother, former New Mexico running back Romell Jordan, had died.
“Romell would have been upset with me if I didn’t put on my uniform today,” Swihart wrote on Instagram.
Swihart was in the starting lineup against the Washington Nationals and had an RBI single on a line shot to left in the fourth inning. He came out of the game after the hit, and was embraced by manager Alex Cora and the rest of his teammates in the dugout.
“It’s just kind of person he is,” said Mookie Betts. “People deal with things in different ways. We’re his family, he kind of leans on us. Just happy to see him out playing, getting in and whatnot and kind of keeping his mind away from that, it’s a tough situation, thinking about it and thinking about it all day every day is not good, so it’s good for him to kind of get away from it a little bit.”
The Red Sox had a moment of silence for Jordan before the game, and Swihart was cheered loudly before his first at-bat.
“Everybody was pulling for him to do something special,” Cora said. “It was good for him to play. He was relaxed. Obviously his mind was someplace else, but it was good for him to play.”
Cora said that Swihart was going home to New Mexico for services, which are this weekend. Cora said he will return when he is ready.
Jordan was taken in by Swihart’s family during his final two years in high school, when he was struggling with family problems. He earned a scholarship to New Mexico, where he rushed for 551 yards with five touchdowns in three seasons.
Jordan, 23, was found dead in a hotel room in Hobbs, N.M., on Wednesday morning.