SAN DIEGO _ A Padres season that had been relatively unfettered amid the COVID-19 pandemic was suddenly interrupted Friday evening.
The team's games against the San Francisco Giants scheduled for Friday and Saturday at Petco Park were postponed when MLB received results of positive COVID test by a Giants player shortly before the first pitch was to be thrown.
It is not known when the games will be made up. The Padres are scheduled to finish the season Sept. 25-27 in San Francisco.
Major League Baseball, which said the Padres-Giants games were postponed "out of an abundance of caution" and to allow for additional testing and contact tracing, has generally shut down teams with positive tests for three or four days. As of now, the Padres and Giants are scheduled to play Sunday.
Players were introduced and lined up for the playing of the national anthem before two umpires emerged from the tunnel leading to their locker room and spoke to Padres manager Jayce Tingler and then to members of the Giants staff before departing the field. One of the umpires had a cell phone to his ear the entire time.
Players from both teams stood around and sat in the dugout with their masks as Padres front office officials talked with each other and on phones.
MLB just reported Friday morning there were no new COVID tests this week. There had been only one in the previous three weeks.
That positive test, within the Oakland A's organization Aug. 30, resulted in the postponement of one game against the Astros and a three-game series against the Mariners. The A's resumed play last Friday (Sept. 4) against the Padres in Oakland.
The Padres' next series is scheduled to begin Monday against the Dodgers at Petco Park. That will mark the start of the second-to-last week of the regular season.
