Kansas City Royals

Royals, Jays look forward to getting back on field

Published Apr. 16, 2018 11:09 p.m. ET

TORONTO -- The Toronto Blue Jays and the Kansas City Royals have not been able to play lately because of poor weather conditions.

On Tuesday afternoon, they should be able to play two.

After a weekend storm, sheets of ice began falling from the CN Tower in downtown Toronto and one put a hole in the roof of the Rogers Centre.

As a result, the teams will play the Tuesday doubleheader.

Left-handers Jaime Garcia (1-0, 3.18 ERA) and J.A. Happ (2-1, 3.94) are scheduled to start for the Blue Jays against Royals left-handers Eric Skoglund (0-1, 9.64) and Danny Duffy (0-2, 5.40).

The Royals were 4-2 against the Blue Jays last season.

The Blue Jays (9-5) have had three games in a row postponed, including Saturday and Sunday at Cleveland. They came back to win the only game of the series with the Indians that was played, 8-4 on Friday night.

Winter conditions on Sunday caused postponement of the Royals' scheduled home game against the Los Angeles Angels. The Royals (3-10) have lost five in a row.

"It's been tough for us," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "We can't get any traction anywhere. It's hard for us to get anything going."

The only previous postponement at the stadium with a retractable roof was April 12, 2001, also against the Royals when two roof panels collided, sending pieces of sheet metal and insulation to the field.

"Obviously, we've been playing really well and you want that momentum going," Blue Jays right-handed starter Marco Estrada said. "But hopefully it's not going to affect anything."

The extra days off could benefit Estrada, who had some back spasms in his start against the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday.

"Normally I like being on my five-day (schedule), but sometimes these things happen, and you just have to deal with it," Estrada said. "But I think for me it came at a pretty good time because I had a little bit of a back spasm in my last outing and this gives me a few extra days to rest and it should be 100 percent by the next one (Thursday in New York)."

Garcia, who will be making his third start of the season for the Blue Jays in the first game Tuesday, is 1-1 with a 5.68 ERA in five career starts against the Royals. His last start against Kansas City was June 12, 2015, when he pitched eight innings without giving up a run.

Garcia's second start of the season was April 8 at Texas when he posted his first win for Toronto, allowing three earned runs, five hits and two walks while striking out five in 5 1/3 innings.

Happ, who will be making his fourth start of the season, is 2-2 with a 4.25 ERA in six career starts against the Royals.

Happ was Toronto's Opening Day starter and took the loss against the New York Yankees. In his past two starts, he is 2-0 with a 3.97 ERA.

Skoglund will be making his second start of the season. He took the loss when the Royals lost 8-3 to the Seattle Mariners last Tuesday, allowing five runs, six hits and two walks while striking out three in 4 2/3 innings.

This will be his first career outing against Toronto.

Duffy will be making his team-leading fourth start of the season. He has been the victim of big innings in his three starts, including five runs in the third inning on Opening Day against the Chicago White Sox, three runs in the first against the Cleveland Indians on April 6 and two runs in the first inning against the Seattle Mariners last Wednesday.

He is 2-3 with a 5.93 ERA in his career against Toronto. He has made one previous start at the Rogers Centre, losing 5-2 on July 30, 2015.

The Royals experienced the impact of the storm soon after arriving in Toronto on Sunday night. One of the club's two buses was struck by a large piece of ice on the trip downtown from the airport.

"It shattered the window," Yost said. "The bus driver was full of glass. They got pulled over, but it was pretty scary there for a little while for the guys on the bus."