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Twins-Guardians series finale washed out by rain

betsy helfand, pioneer press
·3 min read

The Twins-Guardians game scheduled for Sunday afternoon at Target Field was postponed hours before it was supposed to start due to the rainy forecast in the area.

The game will be made up on Aug. 9 when the Guardians return to town. It will be part of a split doubleheader, with the first game starting at 1:10 p.m. and that day’s regularly-scheduled game beginning at 7:10 p.m.

The Twins will push back their pitching rotation a day as a result. Bailey Ober was scheduled to start on Sunday but will now face the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday in the team’s first night game of the season. Ober is looking for a bounce-back performance after the most difficult start of his career — he gave up eight earned runs in 1 1/3 innings in his first outing of the season last week against the Kansas City Royals.

Louie Varland and Chris Paddack will start the second and third games against the Dodgers, respectively, to cap the Twins’ homestand.

Fans who had tickets to Sunday’s game can use them for admission to the makeup game. Further information about ticket exchanges can be found on the Twins’ official website.

Varlands hope for matchup

Though there was no guarantee that both brothers would be in the major leagues, the upcoming Twins-Dodgers series this week has been circled on the Varland family’s calendar for months.

That, they hoped, would finally be when Louie and his older brother, Gus, faced off as big-leaguer pitchers. Making it even more special for the family would be the fact that the series is held at Target Field, not far away from where the brothers grew up — they both went to North St. Paul High School and then Concordia-St. Paul University — and much of the family still resides here.

Things could be lining up according to plan for the Varlands. Louie broke camp with the Twins, taking hold of a spot in the rotation, and Gus, a reliever, was recalled by the Dodgers on Friday from Triple-A.

“He called me before it was official just saying, ‘Hey, here’s the word. It’s not official yet. Don’t tell anybody, but I think I’m coming home,’” Louie Varland said of his brother.

While Gus has seen Louie pitch in person, Louie has yet to see his older brother on the field in person as a major leaguer. Gus debuted in the majors last season and has pitched for both the Brewers and Dodgers, meaning games against the Twins are few and far between.

Though the two are often quite competitive with each other, this being potentially the first time they’re slated to meet as big leaguers on the same field means it’s just “love and super cool” for the brothers, Louie said.

Their parents, he said, were working on getting jerseys or shirts that are half Twins/half Dodgers, like they sported when the brothers faced off as minor leaguers.

“They’re loving it,” Louie said of his family. “We might have hundreds of people here. It’s going to be a party.”

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