No Canada: Blue Jays barred

Toronto will have to play at alternate site inside the U.S.

The Blue Jays won’t play their home games in Toronto this year because Canada’s government doesn’t think it’s safe for players to travel back and forth from the United States, one of the countries hit hardest by the coronavirus pandemic.

Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino said Saturday the federal government had denied the Blue Jays’ request to play at Rogers Centre, confirming what an official familiar with the matter had told The Associated Press ahead of the announcement.

The team had been given clearance by city and provincial governments to play in its home stadium and was awaiting approval from Canada’s federal government. The other 29 Major League Baseball teams plan to play in their home ballparks, without spectators, when the pandemicshortened 60-game season begins on July 23.

Mendicino told The AP frequent travel to the U.S., where COVID-19 cases are surging, was the biggest issue.

The Blue Jays were informed via a phone call. The team’s alternate sites for home games include its training facility in Dunedin, Fla., which is among the states that are virus hot spots, as well as Sahlen Field in Buffalo, which is home to Toronto’s Triplea affiliate and just across the Niagara River from Canada.

Indians 5, Pirates 3: Cleveland broke with social distancing protocol for a few brief moments during the national anthem.

While a prerecorded version of “The Star-spangled Banner” blared over the speakers at the spectator-free ballpark, the Indians stood side-by-side, their right hand over their heart, their left hand on their teammate’s right shoulder. “I think as a team we stand by the change but we also respect the flag and the national anthem as a team,” Lindor said after hitting a go-ahead double in the eighth inning of the victory. “We understand that it is time for a change and change is due.”

Phillies 7, Nationals 2: Aaron Nola pitched five one-hit innings to lead Philadelphia, which scored seven runs off Washington’s Max Scherzer.

Tigers: Pitcher Jordan Zimmermann is going on the 45-day injured list because of a strained right forearm.

Obituary: Rick Reed, whose career as a big league umpire spanned three decades and included two All-star games and a World Series, died. He was 70.