CINCINNATI _ After a mostly smooth ride through the first quarter of the 2020 season, the Pirates have suddenly encountered a few bumps in the road _ and this part has nothing to do with results on the field.
For the second time this week, the Pirates will have a series impacted because of one or more positive COVID-19 tests for their opponent.
The final two games of their four-game series at Cincinnati were postponed Saturday morning after it was learned late Friday or roughly a half-hour past midnight that a Reds player tested positive for COVID-19.
In a statement issued by Major League Baseball, the league said the two games were postponed to allow more time for contact tracing. After a positive test, anyone who came in direct contact with the Reds player who tested positive will be quarantined and retested.
The Pirates (4-14) now have had five games in the past seven days postponed because of another team's COVID-19 situation. Their three-game series in St. Louis earlier this week was postponed after an outbreak that saw 18 members of the Cardinals organization (10 players, eight staff members) test positive.
While it looks like the Pirates and Reds could reconvene at Great American Ball Park for a doubleheader Monday _ a mutual off day for the clubs _ no makeup date or dates for the postponed games has been set.
One source indicated that plans for possible makeup dates are expected to be finalized Saturday.
If Monday for whatever reason does not work, the teams meet twice more this season: Sept. 4-Sept. 6 in Pittsburgh and Sept. 14-16 in Cincinnati. The first of those two options is likely preferable, as both clubs are also off Sept. 7.
The Reds are off Sept. 17, but the Pirates are not; they return to PNC Park to start a home series against the St. Louis Cardinals.
The two postponed games mark 21 consecutive days with at least one MLB game postponed. The league has not had a full schedule since July 26, while the Cardinals are back in action Saturday after having not played since July 29.
It's possible MLB could want to slow play this after what happened with the Marlins, when failing to immediately postponed games resulted in an outbreak that consumed 18 players and two coaches.
As a result, the Marlins missed nine days of games.
Among Reds players, Matt Davidson tested positive for COVID-19, while Nick Senzel, Mike Moustakas and Joey Votto missed time because they showed symptoms; they later tested negative for the virus.
The Pirates have had five positive tests, although only Gregory Polanco and Keone Kela missed games. Kela returned for the start of this series on Thursday, his first action of 2020.
MLB announced on Friday that it had only four positive tests out of 12,301 samples collected within the past week, and the only new ones came from the Cardinals.
At the end of the Pirates-Reds game Friday, third-base coach J.R. House approached Senzel and appeared to tell the outfielder something that upset him. Senzel then avoided his teammates in the postgame handshake line.
Afterward, Reds manager David Bell told reporters, "It's something personal with Nick."
If it was indeed Senzel who tested positive, he was in the batter's box near Jacob Stallings, on first base next to Josh Bell and slid into second and was tagged out by Kevin Newman after a throw from Gregory Polanco.
Stallings, Bell and Newman would represent at least part of the Pirates contingent that would undergo any sort of contact trace testing, in addition obviously to any number of Senzel's Cincinnati teammates.
