Baseball issues stricter face covering rules
Major League Baseball is cracking down on coronavirus safety protocols, mandating that players and staff wear face coverings at all times, including in the dugouts and bullpens, except for players on the field of play.
The league sent a memo to teams Wednesday outlining changes to its 2020 operations manual after outbreaks on the Miami Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals led to 21 postponements in the first two weeks of a shortened 60-game season.
The memo, obtained by the Associated Press on Wednesday night, says that repeated or flagrant violators of the protocols could be banned from participating in the 2020 season and postseason.
Updated schedule
The Philadelphia Phillies and Marlins will play seven times in five days as part of Major League Baseball’s reconfigured schedule released Thursday to account for 21 coronavirus-caused postponements in the first two weeks of the season.
The Marlins, who had their season suspended for over a week due to a team-wide outbreak, will finish the season playing 27 games in 23 days, a stretch featuring no days off and four doubleheaders in a 10-day span.
at Athletics 6, Rangers 4: Matt Olson homered to back Mike Fiers’ first win of the season as Oakland won for the sixth straight time. Khris Davis added a two-run single, Mark Canha had an RBI single and Stephen Piscotty a sacrifice fly as the balanced, first-place A’s kept rolling at the right time with the rival Astros coming to town next.
at Rockies 6, Giants 4: Daniel Murphy hit a two-run, pinch-homer during a five-run seventh inning to lead Colorado. Trevor Story and Charlie Blackmon also homered for the Rockies to spoil Tyler Anderson’s return to Coors Field. Anderson was Colorado’s opening day starter in 2019, but knee surgery in June ended his season after going 0-3 with an 11.76 ERA.
Marlins 8, at Orioles 7: Jonathan Villar hit a first-pitch leadoff homer to spark a robust offensive performance by Miami, completing a startling four-game sweep. Miami is 6-1 and in first place in the NL East despite putting 18 players on the injured list before the series opener Tuesday after a coronavirus outbreak.
at Pirates 6, Twins 5: Kevin
Newman’s two-run pinch-single with one out in the ninth inning helped Pittsburgh end a sevengame losing streak. Gregory Polanco hit a 446-foot, three-run home run for the Pirates that bounced into the Allegheny River. Minnesota missed a chance to put together the best start in franchise history, falling to 10-3, a start matched by the club five previous times, the last in 2001.
at Phillies 5, Yankees 4: J.T. Realmuto hit a three-run homer and Hector Neris struck out Aaron Judge in a big spot for Philadelphia. Jose Alvarez got two outs in the eighth around a double by Giancarlo Stanton, and Phillies manager Joe Girardi called on his closer to face Judge, who came in to pinch-hit for Brett Gardner. With Stanton on third, Neris fanned Judge swinging at a splitter.
at Braves 4, Blue Jays 3: Nick Markakis capped his first start of the season with a game-ending home run in the ninth inning that lifted Atlanta. Days after opting back into the season after stepping away due to coronavirus concerns, Markakis lined the one-out homer off Wilmer Font that carried into the restaurant behind the rightfield stands.
at Royals 13, Cubs 2: Whit Merrifield, Maikel Franco and Jorge Soler homered, and Kansas City stopped a six-game slide. Soler and Salvador Perez each had three hits and two RBIs, helping Brad Keller to the win in his first major league appearance in nearly a year. Keller, who opened the season on the injured list after testing positive for the coronavirus, struck out seven in five scoreless innings.
Brewers 8, at White Sox 3: Christian Yelich hit his first career inside-the-park homer and walked four times, helping Milwaukee beat Chicago. Jedd Gyorko homered and drove in three runs for Milwaukee, and Mark Mathias had two hits with two RBIs.
at Diamonbacks 5, Astros 4: Kole Calhoun lined a two-run double in the ninth inning and Arizona won its first series of the season. Arizona trailed 4-3 after Alex Bregman hit a two-run homer off Stefan Crichton in the eighth inning.
at Indians 13, Reds 0: Jose Ramirez homered from both sides of the plate and drove in four runs in Cleveland’s rout. Ramirez also homered from both sides of the plate during a 9-2 victory over Kansas City on July 26. According to STATS, he is the first player in major league history to accomplish the feat twice within his team’s first 15 games of the season.