Twins Opener At White Sox Postponed
CHICAGO (AP) — Home or away, the Minnesota Twins can't catch a break from the weather.
The Twins' series opener in Chicago against the White Sox on Friday was postponed due to a forecast of cold, windy weather. It's the third time this week that bad weather has kept Minnesota off the field:
On Sunday, the Twins' home game against the Mets was washed out and on Wednesday their series finale against the Los Angeles Angels was called off amid a steady rain that was turning to snow.
The makeup date for Friday's game wasn't announced. It's the first cold weather postponement at U.S. Cellular Field since April 10, 2008, also against Minnesota.
The teams should be able to play Saturday, with the forecast calling for sunny skies and temperatures in the high 40s.
"Three days off in five days: It's never really good to have that many off days, especially because when you end up banging games this time, you're going to play a lot of games later in summer and you're going to pay," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said after Wednesday's game was called off.
"Really, you can't fight this weather. It is what it is," he said. "But you'll be playing games probably in better weather later, so that's a good thing. The pitching gets a little out of whack here. Guys are going to be getting extra days, and I think our hitters are fine. Remember we had a really long spring and didn't have, like, two days off the whole spring. We can get that through that part of it; you just got to make sure your pitching stays up with it."
The weather has been wreaking havoc around the majors. Through Thursday, 10 games had been postponed.
Twins starters have the second-worst ERA in the majors at 5.98. Vance Worley is now slated to start Saturday for Minnesota and Jake Peavy for Chicago.
It hasn't been an easy time, either, for the White Sox, coming off a 3-7 trip to Washington, Cleveland and Toronto in which they lost the first five games.
They lost second baseman Gordon Beckham to a broken bone in his left wrist when he fouled off a pitch against Washington. Outfielder Dayan Viciedo left Thursday's game at Toronto with a strained oblique muscle. And pitching coach Don Cooper was hospitalized in Northern Virginia because of diverticulitis, a stomach illness, and missed the remainder of the trip.
"You just want to go home," manager Robin Ventura said. "I don't care what the weather's like or anything. It's been a long, rough road trip so we were ready to go home and hopefully turn it around."
Cooper was set to rejoin the team on Friday. Beckham was expected to miss six weeks, and it's not clear when Viciedo will return.
The White Sox said he was receiving treatment Friday and was day to day. He came up clutching his left side following a swing in the eighth inning on Thursday and left the game.
"You knew something was up," Ventura said. "You knew you weren't going to let him swing after that so you just take him out."
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