Royals and White Sox will try again on Tuesday after rain suspends series opener
Roughly five and a half hours after the Royals and White Sox got underway, they finished. Well, they finished for the night. They’ve still got four more innings to go after heavy rain and unplayable field conditions forced umpires to suspend the series opener at Guaranteed Rate Field.
The Royals and White Sox will resume the suspended game at 4:40 p.m. on Tuesday with the score tied 1-1 with two outs in the bottom of the fifth, and the regularly scheduled game will take place 30 to 40 minutes after the conclusion of the suspended game. The second game will start no earlier than 6:40 p.m.
Monday’s game went through two delays, including one of nearly three hours, sandwiched around a five-minute resumption before the suspension.
“I’ve got to give a shout out to the umpires,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “They did everything they could to try to get that game in. Bill Miller and his crew were fantastic. They gave us every opportunity to get through five. The weather just wouldn’t cooperate.”
Once the game began and starting pitchers on both sides were used up before the long delay, that assured the bullpens were going to have to carry the load for however much longer the game continued.
The Royals bullpen had been overused in the past week with two starters going less than two innings in their starts, and they came into the day still not listing a starter for Wednesday’s game. Barring a roster move, they could be forced to use a reliever or starter on short rest for that game.
The 2 hour, 55 minute delay took place in the bottom of the fifth inning with the White Sox batting and Homer Bailey on the mound.
The Royals scored their only run in the fourth inning after Adalberto Mondesi doubled to left field and scored on Hunter Dozier’s RBI single two batters later.
Throughout the fourth and fifth innings the grounds crew continually added Quick Dry to the infield in efforts to keep the surface playable. The infielders were standing in puddles and mud as they manned their positions for those final two innings.
Billy Hamilton could’ve used scuba gear or a lifeboat in the fifth when he dove back to first base to avoid being picked off after he singled with two outs.
With the forecast expected to worsen later, the umpires pushed onward even as the video board beyond center field flashed an announcement that the National Weather Service issued a severe weather warning for the Chicago area.
Just as umpiring crew chief Bill Miller made the decision to send the game into a delay, lightning lit up the sky and the teams went to their dugouts with the White Sox having put runners on first and second with one out in a 1-0 game that sat two outs short of the five innings needed for an official game under Major League Baseball’s rules.
Bailey allowed a pair of singles and struck out a batter in the bottom of the fifth when play stopped for the first time.
Royals pitcher Brian Flynn, who hadn’t thrown a pitch in a major-league game since last season, took over for the game’s brief resumption. He gave up an RBI single and threw four pitches to a second batter in the downpour when Miller stopped play again. The resumption lasted five minutes. The game was suspended at 6:45 p.m.
