Francisco Liriano was forced to leave the Detroit Tigers for a brief period last week after he suffered an allergic reaction, and the results of what caused it are in. If he was anything other than a professional baseball player, they would probably be less troubling.
On Wednesday, Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire revealed that doctors told Liriano he is allergic to grass. OK, not exactly…
Francisco Liriano's tests for a recent allergic reaction revealed he is allergic to grass, manager Ron Gardenhire said.
— Jordan Horrobin (@JordanHorrobin) August 1, 2018
Gardenhire: I guess where he lives, they were redoing a lawn or something and they laid down new sod. And then they were spraying some kind of chemicals on it. And he said he smelled it and it really bothered him…So believe it or not, he's allergic to grass. Bad sport to be in.
— Jordan Horrobin (@JordanHorrobin) August 1, 2018
I wish I'd clarified this better in the initial tweet…but Gardenhire's assessment was essentially tongue in cheek: The reaction is believed to be from a chemical ON the grass.
— Jordan Horrobin (@JordanHorrobin) August 1, 2018
Since Liriano has never experienced something like that before, it seems safe to assume the chemical he reacted to is not used at the ballpark. Either way, the groundskeepers at Comerica Park should probably double-check which products they are using.
Liriano isn’t the first MLB player to be hospitalized for an allergic reaction this season, but we hope he’s the last.
