Seven Cardinals, six staff positive for coronavirus; Detroit series off

Seven St. Louis Cardinals players and six staff members have tested positive for the coronavirus, causing Major League Baseball to postpone the team’s four-game series at Detroit.

The series was to have been played at Comerica Park today through Thursday.

“You think about how quickly something like this can spread,” Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak said. “Until it touches you, you sometimes might not believe it, but needless to say we know this is very real and we know it moves quickly and it moves silently, but it can infect a lot of people fast.”

Mozeliak said that five of those who tested positive did not show symptoms. Mozeliak said the others did — headaches, cough, sniffles, lowgrade fever.

“And of those eight, it’s a variety of symptoms but nothing at this point requiring anything like hospitalization,’ Mozeliak said.

St. Louis has been in quarantine since Thursday in Milwaukee, where the Cardinals’ last series was also postponed due to positive tests. While all the members of the Cardinals’ traveling party who tested positive have been returned

home, the rest of them remain isolated in their Milwaukee hotel rooms.

The team is being tested daily.

“The hope would be to travel back to St. Louis Wednesday morning, work out Wednesday afternoon and allow players to get their feet moving again, their bodies moving again,” Mozeliak said. “And then on Thursday have a more robust workout and then play Friday.”

St. Louis last played July 29 at Minnesota and is tentatively set to resume its schedule this Friday at home against the Chicago Cubs.

ANGELS’ OHTANI STRAINS ARM, WON’T THROW FOR 4-6 WEEKS

>> Shohei Ohtani has a right forearm strain that will prevent the Los Angeles Angels’ two-way star from throwing for at least four to six weeks, possibly ending his season as a pitcher after just two starts.

Angels general manager Billy Eppler announced Monday that Ohtani “has a grade 1-2 strain of the flexor pronator mass” — a collection of muscles and tendons in the forearm near the elbow. The right-hander reported discomfort in his arm Sunday after he issued five walks and got only five outs.

The Angels also use Ohtani as their primary designated

hitter between his mound starts, and he is day-to-day as a hitter, the team said.

FIELD OF DREAMS GAME IN IOWA

POSTPONED TO 2021 >> Major League Baseball’s Field of Dreams game in Iowa has been postponed until 2021 because of the novel coronavirus.

The game at a newly constructed ballpark on the cornfield adjacent to the site of the 1989 movie had been scheduled for Aug. 13 in Dyersville. The Chicago White Sox originally had been set to host the New York Yankees. When MLB remade its schedule following the delayed start to the season, the St. Louis Cardinals became the opponent.

MLB will keep the White Sox as one of the teams for the game next year. The other team has not been determined.

INDIANS MANAGER FRANCONA TO MISS 2-GAME SERIES IN CINCINNATI >> Cleveland Indians manager Terry Francona will miss at least the club’s next two games because of a gastrointestinal issue that has bothered him for months.

Francona was scheduled to be checked Monday by doctors at the Cleveland Clinic. He’ll remain in Cleveland during the Indians’ two-game series in Cincinnati. Team president Chris Antonetti said the

team will “take it one step at a time” and that it’s too early to know when the 61-year-old manager will return. The Indians return home Wednesday for two more games with the Reds before a three-game trip to Chicago to face the White Sox.

BREWERS BENCH COACH MURPHY RECOVERING FROM HEART

ATTACK >> Brewers manager Craig Counsell says bench coach Pat Murphy has been released from the hospital after suffering a heart attack during a team workout Saturday.

Brewers general manager David Stearns said Sunday that Murphy received a stent at Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee and was resting comfortably.

Counsell said Murphy sat down while the team was practicing infield defense and wasn’t feeling well. Trainer Rafael Freitas was nearby and escorted Murphy to the clubhouse, where he met with team physician, Dr. Mark Niefeldt.

BETTS SITS >> Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Mookie Betts was out of the lineup at San Diego because of a finger injury on his left hand sustained during at at-bat on Sunday. Manager Dave Roberts said the swelling in Betts’ finger remained substantial.