The first game of a scheduled three-game set Monday between the Pirates and Cardinals has been postponed due to outbreak of COVID-19 within the St. Louis organization, a source told DK Pittsburgh Sports late Saturday night.
The Pirates have canceled their flight from Pittsburgh to St. Louis, which was set to leave Sunday evening.
Two St. Louis players have tested positive for the virus this weekend, bringing the total to nine Cardinals players since last weekend. They Cardinals have been sidelined since July 31, though it originally looked like they would play this weekend against the Cubs after going three days without a positive test. The positive cases has led to more tests and contact tracing, and the series being postponed.
Earlier Saturday, Ben Cherington said he did not yet know the status of the series was, but said that the Pirates would not make the trip unless they knew they could safely play.
"I would certainly expect and want to have more information before we get on the plane for sure," Cherington said Saturday afternoon. "I expect we will have more information and the league has been really good about sharing every bit of information that they can relative to health and safety. So I would not think we would `get on the plane without more information. If we do, it'll be because we're confident we can go there and follow the protocols for sure and be safe in doing so and get into our hotel and play major league baseball games, but we need some more information."
If just Monday's game is postponed, the Pirates and Cardinals could potentially play a double-header Tuesday or Wednesday so their schedules would not be too altered. The Pirates are scheduled to start a four-game series with the Reds in Cincinnati Thursday.
If the whole series is postponed, the Pirates will hold camp activities at PNC Park. Major League Baseball is trying to make sure each team plays their full 60-game schedule, so those games would still need to be made up.
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