McAdam: After Monday postponement in Minneapolis, remainder of week a mystery for Red Sox

Minutes before it was scheduled to begin, the opener of the four-game series between the Red Sox and Minnesota Twins was postponed Monday afternoon for reasons unrelated to forecasts of rain in the area.

The Twins soon after released a statement that said the game was postponed "out of respect for the tragic events that occurred (Sunday) in Brooklyn Center and following the additional details in this evolving situation, the Minnesota Twins have decided it is in the best interests of our fans, staff, players and community to not play today's game.''

On Sunday, a 20-year old Black man, Daunte Wright was fatally shot by police during a traffic stop in Brooklyn Center, less than 10 miles from downtown Minneapolis, sparking protests in the area. Additionally, Minneapolis is currently the site of a murder trial against Minneapolis policeman Derek Chauvin, who is charged with killing George Floyd last summer.

The Red Sox were informed of the postponement less than a half-hour before the scheduled 1:10 p.m. Central start time, with some on the field stretching and preparing for the game. Oddly, no announcement was made to the fans sitting in the stands until later. The Sox left Target Field within the hour and returned to their nearby hotel.



The scheduled NBA game between the Minnesota Timberwolves and Brooklyn Nets, set for the Target Center, directly across the street from Target Field, was also postponed. The mayor of Minneapolis has implemented a 7 p.m. curfew for the city.

The status of the games for the remainder of the series is unclear.

"Our community's been though a lot,'' said Twins team president David St. Peter, "and we have a trial taking place just blocks away from Target Field. Emotions across our community, emotions across our organization, are raw. So based on the events of the last 24 hours and as information has started to come to light, playing a baseball game today felt a little less important.

"When you add a level of public safety to that, particularly the safety for fans, our players, our staff, again we thought the decision we made today was the right call. History will maybe tell us otherwise. But today, this moment, we're pretty confident we're doing the right thing."

Red Sox manager Alex Cora labeled it "a very tough situation, a sad situation, especially in this area. It's been tough with everything going on the last 12 months with everything that's been going on.''

Red Sox scheduled starter Martin Perez was throwing to get loose in the outfield when Twins manager Rocco Baldelli approached Cora in the dugout to inform of the postponement.

Cora held a brief clubhouse meeting to speak with the players after the news broke.

"Everybody understood the decision,'' Cora said, "and now we're in the hotel and we're waiting to hear from MLB and the Twins to hear what's next as far as the rest of the series. We don't have too many details.''

Already, the start times of the first three games were shifted to 1:10 local starts, to avoid having people in the downtown area at night as the Chauvin trial unfolded.

This is the Red Sox' lone visit to Minneapolis this season and it's unclear how or if the remainder of the series will be played. The Twins visit Fenway Aug. 24-26 for a three-game series. There was, however, no evidence that the teams were exploring the possibility of switching the series -- with the teams moving to Boston this week, and the originally scheduled Fenway series shifting to Minneapolis in August.

"We're in a waiting pattern,'' said Cora. "I know Chaim (Bloom, chief baseball officer) has been in touch with the Twins, with the front office, with everybody that's involved, with MLB. So we just to be patient and wait (to see) what they decided for (Tuesday) and the upcoming days.''

The Red Sox arrived in Minnesota Sunday night and Cora acknowledged that he thought about the potential for a postponement after the unrest following the recent shooting.

"You think about stuff like that,'' he said. "But nobody mentioned anything (Monday) morning so we just kept in business as usual.''

The Sox are staying in a Minneapolis suburb and because of the health and safety protocols surrounding the pandemic, Cora has asked players and staff to remain in their hotel. A Zoom call is set for the team Monday night.

With the possibility of rain set for Minneapolis on Tuesday, the Red Sox had already made some contingency plans over the weekend for their pitching rotation this week.

"We needed to talk about it because of the weather,'' said Cora. "We mapped out certain scenarios and how we would address it. Obviously, this is another situation we have on the table. We're not that far off as far as scheduling, so we'll address it and we should be OK.''