SNOWBALLS, NOT FASTBALLS, ARE THROWN IN COLORADO
Kris Bryant’s return from a back injury will have to wait. It’s hard to play baseball during a snowstorm in Colorado.
The opener of the Rockies’ three-game series against the New York Mets was postponed Friday, 61⁄2 hours before the scheduled first pitch, with a winter storm warning in effect for the Denver area. The forecast called for 3 to 5 inches of snow at Coors Field.
The teams are scheduled to make it up in a split doubleheader today at 1:10 p.m. and 6:40 p.m. MDT. But more snow was in the forecast for this morning before it was expected to clear, with a low of 34 degrees in the evening.
Mets right-hander Carlos Carrasco (3-1, 3.73 ERA) is to face right-hander German Marquez (1-3, 6.16) in the opener Saturday. Righty Trevor Williams (0-2, 4.20) will work the night game for the Mets, while the Rockies had yet to announce a starter.
The rare late-May mountain storm started as rain Friday morning, before switching to snow in the afternoon with the temperature plunging to freezing.
Bryant, who last played for the Rockies on April 25, was set to rejoin the team after going 2 for 7 in a two-game rehab stint for Triple-A Albuquerque this week.
Bryant, who signed a seven-year, $182 million deal with the Rockies in March, was diagnosed with a lower back strain in Philadelphia last month amid a 1 for 16 stretch.
The four-time All-Star and 2016 NL MVP is still seeking his first home run with Colorado. The left fielder is batting .281 with four doubles and four RBIs in 15 games.
Nats’ Kieboom done
Washington Nationals infielder Carter Kieboom will undergo season-ending
Tommy John surgery to address the elbow issue that landed him on the injured list in March.
Manager Dave Martinez said before the Nationals’ Friday night game at Milwaukee that Kieboom will have the surgery on May 27. Kieboom, who went on the injured list before the season, has been dealing with a strained flexor mass and sprained ulnar collateral ligament in his throwing elbow.
Martinez had more encouraging updates for other injured players.
He said Stephen Strasburg and Joe Ross each threw 43 pitches and three innings in a simulated game
Thursday in Florida.
“They came out of it feeling good,” Martinez said.
Notable
Phillies slugger Bryce Harper missed his fifth straight start when Philadelphia hosted the Dodgers in the opener of a three-game series. Harper had a plateletrich plasma injection in his right elbow on Sunday. The Phillies originally hoped Harper could return on Tuesday. Philadelphia has now lost four of five without the two-time MVP.
• The Reds activated Canadian slugger Joey Votto off the injured list before Friday’s game in Toronto against the Blue Jays. Votto grew up in Toronto but has played only nine games at Rogers Centre. Also Friday, the Reds put left-hander Ross Detwiler on the bereavement list and placed infielder Brandon Drury, outfielder Albert Almora, righthander Joel Kuhnel and right-hander Tyler Mahle on the restricted list. Players go on the restricted list because they are unvaccinated and barred from entering Canada.
• Pablo Lopez went to a salary arbitration hearing with the Marlins, with the right-hander asking for $3 million and the team arguing for $2.45 million.