ANAHEIM, Calif. — Batting practice for the Twins on Saturday afternoon at Angel Stadium looked more like a sunny siesta in a park than a warmup.
Willians Astudillo gathered between first and second base with a couple of other Latin players, masked up and talking. Others lounged on the grass, heads propped on duffel bags. Manager Rocco Baldelli paced between the chit-chatters and sun-tanners, saying a few words before circling back to the dugout.
Eventually the grounds crew appeared in a wave, wheeling away the cage and picking up the bags. Around the stadium, workers heard the tinny announcement through their walkie-talkies: "Tonight's game has been postponed."
Saturday's game against the Los Angeles Angels became the Twins' first postponement because of COVID-19 issues within the team. The club avoided any such trouble in the shortened and delayed 2020 season, but the beginning of 2021 has not been as kind.
A short time later, MLB also postponed Sunday's series finale.
"It is tough, but you can control only what you can control," designated hitter Nelson Cruz said. "I speak by myself and my teammates, we all come with the mentality to play. … Hopefully this stops right here, and no more cases come up and we can be able to play the game and be free."
Shortstop Andrelton Simmons first tested positive late Thursday night and had to sit out this California road trip, which began with a 10-3 loss Friday. Baldelli and another staff member went through a false positive scare that nearly took the manager from the West Coast trip as well. And ahead of Friday's game, another positive test among a staff member sent a handful of other staff into contact-tracing quarantine in the team hotel.
Before Saturday's game, Baldelli said there had been another potential positive test, this time affecting his lineup. He verbally gave out his batting order without positions, as MLB hadn't yet officially certified it. Most conspicuous was left fielder Kyle Garlick's absence and Brent Rooker's inclusion when Rooker had previously been on the 10-day injured list. Baldelli confirmed Garlick had tested positive.
MLB called off the game shortly before 7 p.m., citing a need for "continued testing and contact tracing involving members of the Twins organization." Sources said the list had grown from Baldelli's pregame estimation of one, but it was too early to tell if the rest of the trip was in jeopardy.
Twins are scheduled to fly to Oakland for a three-game series with the A's starting Monday.
Traveling does present an interesting component, as the Twins not only have a short commuter charter flight up to Oakland as soon as Sunday night but also a four-hour ride back to Minnesota later in the week. And it seems possible some of the spread could have happened during travel.
"The safest thing to do would be, if there's a COVID issue of any kind, you just halt and test and do nothing. We're not really in a situation where we can necessarily do that," Baldelli said before the game was postponed. "All we can do is wear our masks. What we can do is make sure we stay ample space apart from the person next to us."
Not quite 85% of the Twins' tier-one personnel, which includes those traveling, received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine April 8. But it takes about two weeks from that date for the shot to take full effect. The Angels have already reached the 85% threshold that allows for loosened COVID-19 protocols.
Several teams have had postponed games or series because of COVID-19 issues since last season. This postponement delayed the return of hot hitter Byron Buxton, as he was part of the verbal lineup from Baldelli. Buxton hadn't played since Tuesday because of a mild right hamstring strain. Around 7:15 p.m., Buxton led a trio of players, backpacks on, toward the two idling coaches in the tunnel to take the team back to the hotel.
"We don't want it to continue to snowball," Baldelli said. "… I also think that not panicking and creating undue stress on top of all the stress that guys are already feeling is very important. Is there an ideal way to handle something like this? Probably not. I think we all just do what we think is best, and we try to put people at ease every way we can.
"While also acknowledging it's a serious situation."
