Just days after Tropical Storm Hilary forced the Los Angeles Dodgers to play a doubleheader against the Miami Marlins on Saturday, rain also had an impact on their series against the Cleveland Guardians.
The Dodgers and Guardians got through two innings at Progressive Field on Wednesday before the game was suspended due to a rain delay. Despite the pause on the game, there was no actual rain when the decision was made, instead relying on projections for when the rain would start.
That left Dodgers manager Dave Roberts feeling disappointed by the circumstances as he believed the teams could’ve played more innings before the rain began, via Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:
“It was unfortunate. I don’t want to get too much into how it was handled. But it’s unfortunate we only got Clayton and their guy through two innings,” Roberts said.
“I do think we could have got through four (innings) considering the pace of play, the way the game was going – and potentially five innings. … I wish we could have kept playing until we saw rain drops. That’s not my department. But I do think that we could have got some more baseball in.”
Rain didn’t begin falling until 30 minutes after the game was put into a delay.
If the two clubs were able to get through five innings, the score would have become the final rather than forcing it to resume on Thursday before originally scheduled series finale.
It also cost the Dodgers a start from Clayton Kershaw, who only pitched the two innings and will now be unavailable when the suspended game resumes.
The Dodgers and Guardians are set to resume play at 9:10 a.m. PT on Thursday with a doubleheader. The series finale is scheduled for approximately 30 minutes after the completion of the first game.
Dodgers pitching plans in doubleheader
The Dodgers are expected to rely on a bullpen game to pitch the final seven innings of their first game. With the doubleheader, the Dodgers will be allowed to add a 27th player on the roster, with Ryan Pepiot being added as the starter for the second game.
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