Game postponed due to virus outbreak

Phils-Yanks game postponed due to COVID outbreak

The Phillies’ game against the Yankees at Citizens Bank Park on Monday night has been postponed, according to various reports. This comes after several more players and staff with the Miami Marlins have tested positive for COVID-19.

The Marlins, who apparently have been grounded in Philadelphia today, were here for three games over the weekend. That included an 11-6 victory Sunday despite missing previously scheduled starting pitcher Jose Urena and two other starting players, Garrett Cooper and Harold Ramirez. The Marlins did not reveal the reasons for their absences from the lineup, as per the rules that have been agreed upon between MLB and its players union, in which positive COVID results would only be revealed if the player so desires.

Marlins catcher and former Phillie Jorge Alfaro had been put on the injured list earlier in the series, again with no accompanying explanation.

Reportedly, the virus spread among the team members over the weekend and the Marlins’ home opener against the Baltimore Orioles was promptly canceled this morning, the Phillies’

cancellation coming shortly thereafter, according to reports. The team is still at its hotel in Philadelphia while MLB commissioner Rob Manfred and other league officials are scheduling an emergency meeting to get a handle on the situation.

There is no word as yet as to the status of Tuesday’s scheduled Yankees-Phillies game at CBP or the remainder of the Marlins’ series with the Orioles.

“We’re taking risks every day,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said Sunday on a media video chat. “That’s what the players all around the league are doing. You travel all the time ... it’s a risk that we take. We’re going to have to be adjustable, we’re going to have to be flexible, we’re going to have to be patient.”

According to an ESPN report, in addition to the three Marlins players who are believed to have tested positive for COVID prior to Sunday’s game, eight more players and two coaches tested positive Monday morning.

Players, coaches and/or team staff members who test positive have to quarantine, and aren’t allowed to play until testing negative twice and showing no trace of fever for a threeday period.

CHRIS SZAGOLA — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS A foul ball that was hit into the stands sits on the floor of an empty stadium during the eighth inning of a baseball game between the Miami Marlins and the Philadelphia Phillies, Sunday.

CHRIS SZAGOLA — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS The Phillie Phanatic looks on from the empty stands during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Miami Marlins, Sunday.