Sports: Positive virus test postpones Giants game.
Moments before the San Francisco Giants were set to open Friday’s game against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park, the game was abruptly postponed.
The Giants confirmed there was a positive COVID-19 test within the organization, which immediately forced the postponement of Friday’s game. Major League Baseball also announced Saturday’s game, which was scheduled to start at 6:10 p.m., has been postponed “out of an abundance of caution and to allow for additional testing and contact tracing to be conducted.”
It is not clear whether a player, coach or staff member tested positive, and MLB is expected to announce the additional information regarding the status of Sunday’s game and potential makeup dates as soon as possible.
A few minutes before right fielder Mike Yastrzemski was set to lead off against San Diego Padres starter Garrett Richards, Giants trainer Dave Groeschner emerged from the clubhouse and informed the umpiring crew of the positive test result.
Both Richards and the Giants’ probable starter, Johnny Cueto, received word of the postponement while they were warming up in the bullpen.
When the Giants received word of the positive test, manager Gabe Kapler and general manager Scott Harris gathered in front of the dugout and informed players the game would not take place.
The Giants must now perform contact tracing to determine which individuals were in close contact with the person who tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
San Francisco is the first National League West team to have a positive test within the organization since the beginning of the season, and the game between the Giants and Padres is the first postponement due to COVID-19 this season involving NL West teams.
The organization had multiple players test positive during the intake process prior to summer camp, but had not had any members of the organization test positive since the beginning of July.
The Giants are the second West Coast team to have a positive test within the organization responsible for the postponement of at least one game, joining the Oakland A’s who did not play from Aug. 30-Sept. 3 after a player tested positive for COVID-19.
The Padres and Giants could have an opportunity to make up any postponed games during the final weekend of the regular season when San Francisco plays host to San Diego at Oracle Park. The teams also have a mutual off day on Sept. 17 if MLB wants to schedule games that would prevent the clubs from playing six over the final three days of the season.
Before the Giants learned of the positive test result, MLB and the MLB Players Association announced Friday there was only one positive result among the 11,669 tests conducted over the previous seven days and that there had been no new positives among players in the past 12 days.
MLB has had two large outbreaks among teams this season, with the Miami Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals both missing more than a week of games after multiple players with each club tested positive during the early stages of the regular season.