CINCINNATI – Rainouts are no fun. They’re even less so when you have to find a makeup date.
That’s the situation the Reds and Giants are in after Thursday’s Fourth of July game was postponed after a rain delay of two hours, 10 minutes.
No makeup date has been determined.
The Reds’ starting pitching rotation will just be pushed back one day. Mike Leake, who was supposed to start Thursday, will now start Friday night’s opener against Seattle and former Reds teammate Aaron Harang. Mat Latos will face Jeremy Bonderman on Saturday in a 4:10 p.m. start and Bronson Arroyo will start Sunday’s series finale against Joe Saunders.
“They’re doing pretty good, all of them, and it won’t hurt them one day,” said manager Dusty Baker.
Homer Bailey will start Monday night at Milwaukee as the Reds begin a two-city, seven-game road trip before the All-Star break. They play three games against the Brewers and then four in Atlanta against the NL East-leading Braves.
The Reds remain at 49-36 and in third place in the NL Central behind Pittsburgh and St. Louis, while the postponement allows the Giants (39-45) to head home after a disastrous 1-8 road trip. The defending World Series champions have lost 14 of their last 18 overall to fall into last place in the NL West.
There aren’t many options available to the teams when it comes to rescheduling the game.
They have only one common off day between now and the remainder of the season, on Aug. 29. That’s a Thursday and, coincidentally, the teams will be by-passing each other in Denver. The Giants end a three-game series against the Rockies on Aug. 28 before heading to Phoenix to play Arizona three games. The Reds play three games at St. Louis before the off day and then start a three-game weekend series against Colorado on Aug. 30.
If they were to play that day, it would mean both teams would have to play 34 days in a row. That’s too much under the labor agreement and would have to receive special approval from the players’ union.
They could hold off until September 30, one day after the regular season is scheduled to end. They could come back to play one game, if it were necessary for either team in terms of postseason implications.
“We’ve been kicking it around and kicking it around,” said Baker. “The possible dates aren’t optimal… We’ll have to figure something out.”
This is only trip into Cincinnati this season for San Francisco. The Reds play in San Francisco on July 22-24. There is some thought that the teams could play a doubleheader on one of those three days.
This was just the seventh postponement in the 11 seasons the Reds have been playing at Great American Ball Park.
