KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ The tarp covering the infield at Kauffman Stadium stayed in place through Saturday as the Royals' game against the Seattle Mariners was postponed.
An expected deluge of rain forced the game to be pushed to Sunday, and the teams will play a traditional doubleheader starting at 1:15 p.m. local time. The second game will begin within 30 minutes after the first.
Danny Duffy, who was to start Saturday's game for the Royals, will pitch the opener.
"They want this game as bad as we want the game, but they don't want to play three innings and burn the starter," Royals manager Ned Yost said of the Mariners. "It's not really affected (Sunday) but four days from now you're going to need a starter and you'll need to make a roster move. Or you'll have to pitch your 26th man (Sunday)."
All signs point to the Royals adding Jake Junis as the 26th man, which is allowed on a days when there is a doubleheader, and have him start the second game. All signs also point to Salvador Perez being placed on the disabled list because of a strained intercostal muscle.
Yost said with the schedule in August, it made sense to play a doubleheader.
"We're running out of off days," Yost said. "Nobody wants to come back. Nobody wants to get on a plane and come back for one game."
Fans who would have attended Saturday's game can exchange the value of those tickets for a future game, including Sunday's doubleheader. But it has to be an exchange. There is not a rain check for those tickets for Sunday's games.
