Wintry weather halts Royals-Rays game
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Right-hander Ervin Santana logged another magical start and utility player Elliot Johnson continued his hot streak for the Kansas City Royals.
Santana, who was 3-1 with a 2.00 ERA in his first five starts, struck out six of the first 10 Tampa Bay batters he faced and seven in four scoreless innings.
Johnson, who homered Wednesday and had two hits, a walk and a stolen base on Tuesday against his former team, singled, swiped a base and scored on Alex Gordon's third-inning single off Roberto Hernandez.
It was all for naught, however, as nasty weather stopped the action after the top of the fourth inning. The tarp was brought out at 2:18 p.m. CDT and play never resumed. After a two-hour and 20-minute delay, the game was officially called.
"It's a perfect storm to pull a muscle and you lose somebody for a long period of time," Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "I understand all the ramifications regarding coming back and all that stuff, but one team is leading one-nothing, they probably have a different perspective.
"Had it been in reverse, I just think it's a dangerous situation. You don't want to win the battle and lose the war. If you lose somebody significant, you'd be really upset with yourself."
No makeup date was announced. The two clubs have three coinciding open dates the remainder of the season: June 3, July 29 and Aug. 26. If they would reschedule on June 3, the Royals would have games scheduled for 34 consecutive dates.
It was 41 degrees when the game began at Kauffman Stadium, but the wind-chill factor made it feel like 32. There was a north wind of 20 mph with gusts up to 31 mph and snow falling by 4 p.m.
"It was really a no-conceived idea from the beginning," Maddon said to start the game. "It didn't look very good from jump street. It was not good from the very first pitch. It was slick, nasty and cold and raining.
"I respect what the umpires did. I thought Teddy Barrett (crew chief) handled it really, really well, called it when he did. Like he told me, 'we lost the field.' That's the phrase he used.
"He was absolutely correct. They did the best they possibly could, but it's not going to get any better. I think they did the right thing. It's not just about playing five or 4 1/2 innings. It's about playing nine. If you don't think you can get in nine innings, I think it's the appropriate thing to do."
Because this was the Rays' only trip to Kansas City, the two clubs made every effort to get the game in, but the winter May weather failed to cooperate.
It was the Royals' second rainout during their homestand. They were also rained out Friday against the Cleveland Indians.
In addition, the Royals were rained out April 23 at Detroit with a makeup date not yet announced. Plus, the Royals' April 19 game at Fenway Park was postponed with Boston shut down with the police situation and bombings suspects still not apprehended.
"Because we were winning, I'd preferred to continue," Johnson said. "There's been so many (off days). It's getting to be ridiculous. It's getting to the point now of let's play some ball."
Just not on this Thursday in the snow.
