Rays-Royals rained out Friday; twin bill set for Saturday

KANSAS CITY -- The All-Star break has been extended for the Royals and Rays, at least for one more day. Friday night’s game has been postponed because of severe weather in the Kansas City area.

The game has been rescheduled as part of a split doubleheader on Saturday at Kauffman Stadium, with Game 1 slated for 2:10 p.m. ET/1:10 p.m. CT and Game 2 (the originally scheduled game) following at 7:10 p.m. ET/6:10 p.m. CT. Both games of the split doubleheader will be nine-inning regulation games.

Tickets for Friday’s postponed game will be honored for the rescheduled game. Fans do not have to exchange their original tickets if they elect to attend the rescheduled game.

Right-handed rookie Alec Marsh was scheduled to pitch Friday for the Royals, and he will now start Game 1 of the doubleheader on Saturday. Lefty Cole Ragans will be the 27th man for Saturday’s doubleheader and will start Game 2, making his Royals debut after the club acquired him in the trade that sent Aroldis Chapman to the Rangers.

Originally, Brady Singer was scheduled to start Saturday’s game and Jordan Lyles was scheduled for Sunday to round out the series against the Rays.

The Rays will start Tyler Glasnow in Saturday's opener, and while their starter for the nightcap is officially TBD, Cooper Criswell is expected to either start that game or pitch bulk innings as the 27th man. Zach Eflin is now expected to start on Sunday, with Shane McClanahan's return from the injured list moved to Monday in Arlington and Taj Bradley slated for Tuesday.

The Rays ended the first half in a bit of a skid, dropping seven of their last eight games and 15 of their last 25, but they were confident they would return to form after the slightly extended All-Star break.

“Really helps recharge those batteries, and I think everybody’s going to be good to go starting tomorrow,” second baseman Brandon Lowe said Friday. “We heard [about the weather that] might be coming, and we were like, ‘Oh, we might get an extra day on our break.’”

Teams are allowed to recall one additional player who is on the 40-man roster to serve as the 27th member for the day of a doubleheader. That player will be returned to the Minor Leagues following the completion of the doubleheader.