Sunday's Marlins-Dodgers game moved to today due to Hurricane Hilary
LOS ANGELES -- With the impacts of Hurricane Hilary forecasted to begin hitting the Los Angeles area on Sunday, the Dodgers and Marlins will now play a split doubleheader on Saturday.
For ticket holders, Sunday’s rescheduled game will become the early afternoon contest on Saturday, which is scheduled for 12 p.m. PT/3 p.m. ET. Game 2 has first pitch set for 6:10 p.m. PT/9:10 p.m. ET, as originally scheduled.
Both auto and stadium gates will open at 10 a.m. PT on Saturday for the first game. For those who can’t attend the early game at the rescheduled time and bought tickets directly from the Dodgers, there will be instructions sent next week on how to exchange them for a select future game this season.
“This is crazy,” said manager Dave Roberts. “I mean, a hurricane in Southern California, that’s very unprecedented, clearly. So I just want to make sure we get ahead of it, people get safe and then it passes us by.”
Hilary, which had weakened to a Category 2 storm as of Saturday afternoon, is expected to spawn a tropical storm that will likely make field conditions on Sunday unplayable. Some sources, including AccuWeather, project that the storm could bring a year’s worth of rain to parts of Southern California in the span of just a couple of days.
The Angels and Padres, MLB’s two other Southern California-based teams, are both playing at home this weekend and have had their schedules adjusted similarly.
Marlins rookie right-hander Eury Pérez, who was scheduled to pitch on Saturday, will toe the rubber in Game 1, and left-hander Braxton Garrett will start the nightcap. Originally set to go Sunday, Garrett will be on normal rest because of Thursday’s off-day.
There remains a bit of uncertainty for the Marlins following Saturday’s twin bill since they are supposed to head to San Diego for a three-game series against the Padres beginning on Monday.
“We have an off-day Sunday, we don't know what's going to happen Monday, and then we have another off-day when we get back on Thursday, so it can reset not only the bullpen, but it can reset the rotation as well,” manager Skip Schumaker said. “It doesn't do anything different as far as what we had planned originally other than Brax. He'd be on his fifth day right now, so it's not like he's on short rest. We'll be as scheduled, as planned.”
For the Dodgers, Julio Urías will stay on schedule to start the nightcap, with the day game functioning more as a bullpen game. L.A. called up Ryan Pepiot from Triple-A as its 27th man to serve as the bulk pitcher in Game 1.
Bobby Miller, who had been slated for Sunday’s finale, will have his start pushed back to Tuesday's series opener in Cleveland, following Monday's scheduled day off. Clayton Kershaw will pitch on Wednesday.
This marks the second time in Marlins history that a hurricane has altered their schedule. On Sept. 13-14, 2004, the Marlins relocated to the home of the White Sox to host the Expos for two games.
The Dodgers haven't had a rainout since April 17, 2000. Friday's series opener marked the 1,872nd straight game without a rainout.