Francona feeling better, expected to manage Indians game

CLEVELAND -- Indians manager Terry Francona returned to work Wednesday after being hospitalized for a few hours Tuesday night.

Francona felt ill late in the Indians' 7-5 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers. He left the dugout in the eighth inning and did not meet with reporters afterward.

"I was having a hard time during the game," he said Wednesday. "I was lightheaded. I knew my heart was going too fast and I had one of the trainers check me. I finally came inside because I was like Something's not right."

Bench coach Brad Mills filled in for Francona for the final inning and for his postgame news conference.

"I was really out of it," Francona said. "Millsie said something and I kind of looked at him. That's when he got nervous because I missed a couple of things."

Francona said he was taken from Progressive Field to Cleveland Clinic in an ambulance. He underwent a battery of tests and was given an IV because he was dehydrated.

"It scared me a little bit," he said. "That doesn't usually happen."

Francona said team president Chris Antonetti drove him home from the hospital early Wednesday.

"You show up the next day and you're more embarrassed than anything," he said. "I'm just tired today, which they said I would be but I'm OK."

Francona managed to keep his sense of humor.

"They checked my brain and they didn't find anything, which did not surprise me," he said.

The 58-year-old Francona missed a game last season in Washington because of chest pains, but said he didn't experience that symptom Tuesday.

He's in his fifth season with Cleveland after winning two World Series titles in Boston. Francona guided the Indians to their first World Series appearance since 1997 last year. Cleveland lost in seven games to the Chicago Cubs.

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