Three nights the Boston Red Sox were in Baltimore, and three nights their games against the Orioles had at least one rain delay.
In the Sox’s win Monday two separate rain delays interrupted the game, with one stoppage taking place in Tuesday’s loss.
In Wednesday’s series finale, a massive band of storms had been on the radar but the game began nevertheless. During the top of the second it was put into a delay, and after about 2 1/2 hours the game was postponed. The Red Sox are in the midst of a long stretch of consecutive games, and have to travel back to Boston to begin a four-game set against the Minnesota Twins on Thursday.
To rub salt in the wound for the Red Sox, they were leading 5-0 when the game was called. And because the game hadn’t gotten through the fifth inning, it will be started totally fresh when it is made up.
Upon the game actually being called, reports from Red Sox beat writers in Baltimore indicated manager Alex Cora and the rest of the team were irate over the handling of the situation.
The Red Sox’s gripe is fair. The home team determines if the game is started, but it’s the umpires who decide when to stop or call the game. Knowing it almost certainly was going to be a monsoon Wednesday, Boston must have hoped the game wouldn’t even be started.
The two teams also are in vastly different positions in the standings, as well. Baltimore is the worst team in the league, has been out of contention for weeks and as such is having an absolute firesale with its veteran players. Meanwhile, Boston is the top team in baseball and gearing up for a difficult pennant race deep into the fall.
A makeup date has yet to be selected, but the two sides will see each other twice more this season, once in Baltimore on August 10-12, and once in Boston on Sept. 24-26.
