Phillies-Blue Jays series postponed due to virus
NEW YORK — Major League Baseball has postponed this weekend’s scheduled series between Toronto and Philadelphia because of concerns about the coronavirus after two Phillies staffers tested positive.
“Major League Baseball will co-ordinate with health experts and the Major League Baseball Players Association in planning for the Phillies’ resumption of play, and will provide further scheduling updates as necessary,” the league said in a statement Thursday.
Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo revealed news of the postponed series Thursday, saying his club was “not going to Philadelphia,” where the series was scheduled to take place.
“Our plans right now are to stay put and let MLB work through whatever they’re working through,” Montoyo said before his club played the last of four games in Washington.
It’s the latest in a series of scheduling changes as MLB attempts to play a 60-game season amid a pandemic that is surging in parts of the United States.
Earlier Thursday, word emerged that another player with the Miami Marlins — who recently played at Philadelphia — tested positive for COVID-19, bringing their total outbreak to 17 players, according to a person familiar with the situation.
The Phillies said there were no positive results among players from Wednesday’s testing of their team. But there were two positives: One from a member of the coaching staff and one from a member of the home clubhouse staff.
All activity at Citizens Bank Park was cancelled Thursday until further notice.
The Blue Jays are stuck on the road because the Canadian government wouldn’t let them use their stadium in Toronto this season because of fears about teams travelling back and forth to the United States. Eventually, the Blue Jays are supposed to play home games at a minor league ballpark in Buffalo, but it isn’t ready. So Montoyo’s team played its “home opener” at Washington on Wednesday.
The Blue Jays were then supposed to start a three-game series at the Phillies today. First, MLB shifted today’s game to part of a doubleheader Saturday, with the series finale Sunday — and now all three games are scrapped, leaving Toronto in limbo.
“We’re going to talk to the Nationals, see if we can work out here,” Montoyo said. “If they say yes, we’ll stay and work out until MLB tells us where to go next.”
WASHINGTON — Michael A. Taylor’s second homer of the season helped the “visiting” Nationals knock around struggling HyunJin Ryu and beat the home-awayfrom-home Toronto Blue Jays 6-4 Thursday before both teams head into a coronavirus-caused “mini all-star break,” as Washington manager Dave Martinez called it.
Kurt Suzuki delivered a tworun double and Asdrubal Cabrera added an RBI double off Ryu (0-1), who gave up Taylor’s two-run shot to straightaway centre.
Ryu’s ERA is 8.00 after he allowed five runs and nine hits in 4 ⁄ innings, his second start under an $80-million US, four-year deal Toronto gave him after he was second in NL Cy Young Award voting for the Dodgers in 2019.