Guardians’ game put off due to COVID-19

The Cleveland Guardians are dealing with a COVID-19 outbreak that has sidelined manager Terry Francona and several of the team’s coaches, leading to the postponement of Wednesday’s game against the White Sox in Chicago.

Shortly after Francona’s positive test became known, MLB said there were “multiple positive COVID-19 tests” in Cleveland’s organization and called off Wednesday’s series finale to allow for more testing and contact tracing.

It’s the first coronavirus-related postponement since the season started on April 7.

Guardians bench coach DeMarlo Hale, who was to fill in for Francona, also tested positive, and Cleveland has “multiple coaches and other team support staff members” infected with the virus, according to team spokesman Bart Swain.

It’s was unclear who will manage the Guardians when they open a three-game series in Minnesota on Friday. It’s likely the team will bring up several minor league coaches and field coordinators for the series.

First base coach Sandy Alomar could be an option to manage. He took over those duties during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season after Francona was forced to step away after just 14 games due to a health issue.

BRAVES' PIÑA OUT FOR SEASON >> Atlanta catcher Manny Piña will have season-ending surgery after tests revealed ligament and cartilage damage in his left wrist. TORONTO'S GARCÍA BLAMES BALLS FOR HBP >> Toronto reliever Yimi García said he didn’t hit the Yankees’ Josh Donaldson intentionally and claimed baseballs have become difficult to grip this season.

“Last night was some of the worst nights of my playing career regarding the baseballs,” García said through an interpreter before Wednesday’s game. “It was embarrassing. The balls that we’re using right now, for me, it’s bad. The balls are really bad, very slippery, and I can’t believe it.”

García faulted the seams on the balls.

“They’re very low,” he said, saying the lack of height caused the slipperiness.

García’s complaints came just weeks after New York Mets pitcher Chris Bassitt also found fault with the balls, saying slickness caused a high number of his teammates to be hit by pitches.

“MLB has a very big problem with the baseballs. They’re bad,” Bassitt said last month. “Everyone knows it. Every pitcher in the league knows it. They’re bad. They don’t care. MLB doesn’t give a damn about it. We’ve told them our problems with them and they don’t care.”

Major League Baseball, which cracked down on the use of sticky substances by pitchers last June, said mud has been applied to balls on game days since September to improve consistency and that uniform rosin bags were provided to teams starting this year.

MLB also made humidor use for baseball storage mandatory this season in an effort to standardize conditions, up from 10 teams last year, five in 2020 and two in 2018, when Arizona became the second team after Colorado. The humidors are used to try to get baseballs to behave in a similar fashion, whether the game’s being played in Colorado’s thin air or New York or Atlanta.

MLB points to a decline in walks and hit batters this season as evidence balls have not been harder to control.

After allowing a tying three-run homer to Giancarlo Stanton in the sixth inning Tuesday night, García hit Donaldson just above the left elbow pad with a 94 mph fastball on an 0-1 count.

“All I was trying to do was to make a good pitch inside,” García said.

García was ejected by crew chief Alfonso Marquez. CUBS' HOERNER INJURED IN COLLISION WITH UMP >> Chicago Cubs shortstop Nico Hoerner came out of Wednesday’s series finale against the Padres with a sprained right ankle an inning after colliding with second base umpire Dan Iassogna in center field.

Hoerner was on the ground in pain after the collision in the first inning and was tended to by a trainer. He stayed in, batted in the second inning and struck out. Hoerner was replaced in the bottom half of the inning by Ildemaro Vargas.

Hoerner had X-rays, which were negative. He is listed as day-to-day.

Hoerner was running out to take the throw from Jason Heyward after Jurickson Profar hit a fly ball over the center fielder’s head for a triple.

Iassogna, the crew chief, stayed in the game.

Both men said the Cubs being in a shift led to the collision.

“In the shift, sometimes you’re in different places than people are used to ...,” Hoerner said. “I was watching the ball just like the umpire was and I was on the ground before I really realized what happened. We were both just doing our jobs and weird things happen sometimes.”