Rainout could be windfall
Postponement gives weary O’s rest; Jays’ loss gives them sole possession of 1st place
BOSTON — As seen during this week’s homestand at Camden Yards, the Orioles typically do all they can to avoid doubleheaders — and the obstacles they entail — but playing one today in Boston could prove beneficial to the Orioles.
The scheduled game Friday against the Red Sox at Fenway Park was postponed because of inclement weather nearly three hours before its scheduled start. It will be made up as the first game of a split- admission doubleheader at 1:05 p.m. today. Game 2 will start at 7:15 p.m.
The Orioles — who on Friday took sole possession of first place when the Toronto Blue Jays lost, 1-0, in 12 innings to the Oakland Athletics — weren’t involved in the decision to play a doubleheader Saturday, even though they probably will benefit from it. According to Article V, Section Cof Major League Baseball’s collective bargaining agreement, the Red Sox and Chicago Cubs have the unique right to reschedule a postponed home game as a split-admission doubleheader without the other team’s consent. Otherwise, both teams must agree on makeup dates.
That rule, created in the 1990s in consideration of the relatively smaller capacities of Fenway Park and Wrigley Field, also was invoked in April, when the Red Sox forced the Tampa Bay Rays to play a doubleheader on a getaway day after a rainout instead of on a common day off or as part of a doubleheader later in the season.
After a rain-delayed 5-2 win over the Texas Rangers on Thursday night, the Orioles’ charter flight wasn’t available until about 2 a.m. and didn’t arrive in Boston until 4 a.m. Luckily for the Orioles, Friday’s game was postponed before the team bus
left the team hotel in the morning.
The Orioles also will have the benefit of adding a “26th man” for the second game of the doubleheader. In addition, third baseman Manny Machado will return from his five-game suspension in Game 2, so the club’s number of available players will go from 24 to 26 between games.
The club, alone in first place for the first time since May 20, will stay on turn with its rotation.
Right-hander Miguel Gonzalez, who was scheduled to pitch Friday afternoon, will start Game 1 today.
Right-hander Ubaldo Jimenez will remain the starter in today’s night game. Jimenez is 0-5 with a 10.55 ERA in five day starts, compared with a 3-3 record and 2.53 ERA at night.
Jimenez hasn’t fared well against the Red Sox, going 1-3 with a 9.31 ERA in six career starts — he also has a 9.31 ERA in two starts at Fenway Park over 9 2⁄3 innings — but the Orioles, under the “26th man” rule for doubleheaders, likely will have the benefit of an extra reliever behind Jimenez. Left-hander T.J. McFarland will be available again after his spot start Tuesday, giving the club at least eight relievers.
When a game is rained out and a split doubleheader is scheduled for the next day, both teams can add a player who must be sent back to the minors after the second game. That player doesn’t need to have fulfilled the mandatory 10-day stint in the minors after being optioned, so the team could recall right-hander Evan Meek, who was optioned to Triple-A on Monday and last pitched for the Tides on Wednesday.
The club will have to make an additional roster move before Sunday’s game to recall righthander Kevin Gausman to start the series finale in Boston, likely sending a reliever down.
The club announced Friday that Gausman, who threw 29 pitches in an abbreviated twoinning start Wednesday for shortseason Single-A Aberdeen, will start Sunday.
The most likely player to be sent down to make room for Gausman is right-hander Ramon Ramirez, but Ramirez has no minor league options remaining and would have to clear waivers before being outrighted back to Norfolk.
Meanwhile, right-hander Bud Norris, on the disabled list with a right groin strain, is scheduled to throw a simulated game at Fenway Park between games.
Norris is eligible to be activated from the disabled list Monday, and he could make that date. Manager Buck Showalter has said Norris wouldn’t immediately go from a bullpen session to the 25-man roster. He would need to test his groin in either a simulated game or a minor league rehabilitation game before being activated. Norris has thrown two bullpen sessions since going on the DL.
If Norris is activated and the club keeps Gausman on the 25manroster after his start Sunday, it would give the Orioles six starters again and a seven-man bullpen.
Gausman was sent to the minors after going 3-0 with a 0.95 ERA in a three-start span because he was one of the few optionable pitchers. He struggled in his return start June 27, allowing five runs over five innings.