The Pirates will not be going to St. Louis at all now after Major League Baseball postponed their series with the Cardinals Sunday.
Late Saturday night, a source told DK Pittsburgh Sports that the Pirates cancelled their Sunday flight to St. Louis after they learned their game Monday was postponed.
The two clubs were supposed to play a three-game series from Monday to Wednesday.
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.
A released statement from MLB reads: "In light of the most recent positive test results, MLB and the Club believe it is prudent to conduct additional testing while players and staff are quarantined before the team returns to play."
The Pirates will still conduct baseball activities during the shutdown.
The break comes at a good time for the bullpen, who have been worked hard as of late.
"Obviously with our bullpen, it would be nice to give those guys a blow," Derek Shelton said before the game. "They wouldn’t throw anything simulated. Starters, we would have to work it out and let [pitching coach] Oscar [Marin] and [bullpen coach] Mecc [Justin Meccage] figure that out."
MLB has tried to make sure each team plays their full 60-game schedule, so these are postponements, not cancellations, at the moment.
Finding a time to make these games up will be a challenge, though. The Pirates were not scheduled to travel back to St. Louis this season. The Cardinals will come to Pittsburgh for a four-game series Sept. 17-20.
The Pirates' next game will be Thursday against the Reds in Cincinnati.
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