Daily Clips
April 17, 2018
LOCAL
Falling ice postpones opener against Jays
Due to storm, traditional doubleheader to start Tuesday at 2:07 p.m. CT
April 16, 2018By Keegan Matheson/MLB.com
Royals safe in Toronto after scary bus ride
Falling ice smashes windshield, injures driver en route from airport
April 16, 2018By Keegan Matheson/MLB.com
Royals pitchers practiced Monday on a parking lot inside Rogers Centre
April 17, 2018By Pete Grathoff/KC Star
With game against Royals in doubt, Blue Jays delete smug tweet about playing in dome
April 16, 2018By Pete Grathoff/KC Star
The harrowing inside story of how reliever Blaine Boyer and a semi-retired Toronto bus driver avoided disaster
April 17, 2018By Rustin Dodd/The Athletic
MINORS
Chasers Fall in Final Inning, 5-4
Oaks' strong start goes to waste in defeat
April 16, 2018By Omaha Storm Chasers
Missions even series with 9-1 win over Naturals
April 16, 2018By Northwest Arkansas Naturals
Strong Pitching and Early Offense Reels in Mudcats
April 16, 2018By Wilmington Blue Rocks
Lexington Falls to Hickory in Game One
April 16, 2018By Lexington Legends
NATIONAL
Kansas City Royals team bus hit by chunk of flying ice, relief pitcher takes wheel
April 16, 2018By Steve Gardner/USA Today Sports
Major League Baseball would be better, and less vulnerable to weather, with 142-game season
April 16, 2018By Nancy Armour/USA Today Sports
Early start to season leaves MLB with options to deal with rash of postponements
April 16, 2018By Jerry Crasnick/ESPN.com
Harrison out for 6 weeks with left hand fracture
April 16, 2018By Adam Berry/MLB.com
Kiermaier needs thumb surgery, out 3 months
April 16, 2018By Bill Chastain/MLB.com
MLB TRANSACTIONS
April 17, 2018 •.CBSSports.com
LOCAL
Falling ice postpones opener against Jays
Due to storm, traditional doubleheader to start Tuesday at 2:07 p.m. CT
April 16, 2018By Keegan Matheson/MLB.com
The Royals can't seem to escape the bad weather -- even in a dome.
Monday's series opener against the Blue Jays was postponed due to damage caused by falling ice and snow to the roof at Rogers Centre. The game will be made up as part of a traditional doubleheader on Tuesday beginning at 2:07 p.m. CT.
After a weekend of freezing rain in Toronto, the area around the CN Tower and Rogers Centre was closed off for part of Monday. One piece of falling ice punctured a noticeable hole in the dome over right field, and Rogers Centre staff placed multiple tarps across the turf.
Crews worked through the afternoon to repair the roof from both inside and outside, but the Blue Jays made the official decision just after 4:30 p.m. CT.
"I was in Milwaukee for six years and it was fantastic, because you just knew [at Miller Park] you were going to take batting practice," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "You knew you were going to play. That's why we look forward to coming here, because we knew we were going to get three games under our belt."
The Royals' 3-10 start has been made more frustrating by four postponements, including their Sunday series finale in Anaheim before traveling to Toronto.
"It's been tough for us," Yost said. "We can't get any traction anywhere. It's hard for us to get anything going."
Royals safe in Toronto after scary bus ride
Falling ice smashes windshield, injures driver en route from airport
April 16, 2018By Keegan Matheson/MLB.com
Another day, another postponement for the Royals, who had their series opener against the Blue Jays on Monday pushed back to Tuesday as part of a traditional doubleheader to start at 2:07 p.m. CT.
The Royals are relieved the bad weather, which caused ice and snow damage to the roof at Rogers Centre, didn't lead to something much more serious after their arrival on Sunday night. One of the club's two buses was struck with a large piece of ice en route from Toronto's Pearson Airport just after 10 p.m. CT. The ice smashed through the front of the bus and injured the driver, who sustained cuts to his face.
"It shattered the window. The bus driver was full of glass," manager Ned Yost said. "They got pulled over, but it was pretty scary there for a little while for the guys on the bus."
Royals reliever Blaine Boyer was seated near the front of the bus and saw the chunk of flying ice, which he estimated as being at least half the size of Yost's desk in the clubhouse at Kauffman Stadium.
Boyer jumped up to grab the wheel and assist the driver, who was initially in shock. The driver quickly worked to slow the bus and pull off the road. Boyer called the driver, Fred, a "stud" for his reaction to the incident and for keeping the Royals safe.
"We're lucky we've even got a team," Yost said when asked about Monday's weather. He was on the front bus when the back bus was struck by the ice approximately 10 minutes from the airport.
Along with Boyer, catcher Drew Butera was near the front of the bus and helped to calm the driver. Yost said on Monday that he did not believe the driver was hospitalized.
After an earlier delay on Sunday flying out of Kansas City, the Royals did not reach their hotel until nearly midnight CT.
Salvy continuing rehab
All-Star catcher Salvador Perez started as the designated hitter in his second rehab game on Monday with Double-A Northwest Arkansas. He went 1-for-2 with a single and a walk, and he was hit by a pitch.
"He had a really good day yesterday, he hit a homer," Yost said. "He had four at-bats today with no issue."
Perez has been on the disabled list with a Grade 2 MCL tear in his left knee, but he began his rehab assignment on Sunday. In his place, Butera has been the Royals' primary catcher.
The plan is to have Perez play five to seven innings on Tuesday behind the plate, but there is no timetable for his return to the Royals.
Royals pitchers practiced Monday on a parking lot inside Rogers Centre
April 17, 2018By Pete Grathoff/KC Star
A pitcher has to get his work in, and that usually happens at the ballpark.
Just not always on the field.
For instance: the Royals pitchers didn't take the field at the Rogers Centre in Toronto on Monday after ice fell from a nearby building and left a hole in the stadium's roof.
What to do?
The Royals went to a parking area inside the stadium and got their work done.
Royals pitcher Danny Duffy shared this video on Twitter, and you can see team buses, TV trucks and cars all around:
Click link to see the video.
Another Royals game is postponed. This time it's because of a hole in the roof
April 16, 2018By Maria Torres/KC Star
It seems these days Mother Nature won’t leave the Royals alone.
One day after postponing their series finale against the Los Angeles Angels at Kauffman Stadium because of cold temperatures, the Royals faced a second consecutive postponement — this time in a city with a domed stadium.
The problem: A hole in the roof.
The result: Monday's 6:07 p.m. game against the Blue Jays in Toronto will be made up Tuesday as part of a traditional doubleheader starting at 2:07 p.m.
A spring snowstorm brought freezing rain and high winds into the Toronto area over the weekend, disrupting travel in the Canadian city. The icy conditions began to taper Monday morning, yet the city was still dealing with the repercussions of the storm. Among them: a hole in the retractable roof of the Rogers Centre, where the Blue Jays play.
The Toronto Star reported that a hole in the stadium’s roof opened above right field, causing snow to fall onto the field below. According to the Blue Jays, damage to the roof was caused by falling ice from the adjacent CN Tower.
The Royals have had four games (one in Detroit, one in Toronto and two in Kansas City) postponed this season. Major League Baseball has seen 24 postponements overall.
With game against Royals in doubt, Blue Jays delete smug tweet about playing in dome
April 16, 2018By Pete Grathoff/KC Star
OK, this is getting out of hand.
It's one thing to have the Royals' home game against the Angels postponed because of the cold, but you'd think that their game played under a dome would go off without a hitch, right?
Maybe not.
The Royals are in Toronto to start a three-game series Monday against the Blue Jays. However, ice and snow has gripped Toronto, and the Rogers Centre apparently suffered damage. You can see what it looks like in the video above from Josh McConnell, which was posted on Twitter.
The Blue Jays tweeted that they are investigating whether to postpone Monday's game. Ice from the CN Tower apparently hit the roof of the Rogers Centre and caused damage.
Earlier on Monday, the Blue Jays smugly tweeted: "Weather update: Due to our stadium having a roof, today's game will be ... Played as expected."
That no doubt was a dig at the number of postponements in the early part of the Major League Baseball season. Realizing that the game is in jeopardy, the Blue Jays deleted the tweet. But Twitter user Joe Davis got a screenshot of it:
Perhaps this potential postponement is karma, because the Blue Jays have done a lot of bragging about having a roof, particularly after having games postponed in Cleveland.
Tomorrow, no game will be missed. We promise.
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) April 16, 2018
Home is where the heart is. It's also where baseball is guaranteed!
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) April 14, 2018
Whoops. Better check that guarantee.
The harrowing inside story of how reliever Blaine Boyer and a semi-retired Toronto bus driver avoided disaster
April 17, 2018By Rustin Dodd/The Athletic
Late Sunday night, a group of weather-beaten ballplayers filed into a charter bus after touching down here in Toronto. Bleary-eyed from a flight delay in Kansas City, tested by another postponed game, they had a short commute down a Canadian highway to the team hotel. Most were ready for bed.
Third baseman Mike Moustakas trudged to the back, his usual spot. Reliever Kevin McCarthy buried his head in his phone. Blaine Boyer, a 36-year-old relief arm, chose a seat at the front, near Alex Gordon, Ian Kennedy and Drew Butera.
Here sat the 2018 Royals. In 18 days, they had won just three times. In all, they had played just 13 games, the season ravaged by a brutal Midwestern spring. They had weathered snow-outs and frigid wind chills and wet days in which they could not feel the baseball. They had stood frozen on baseball fields in Detroit, Cleveland and Kansas City. On Monday, they would lose a chance to play when the roof at Rogers Centre was damaged by falling ice from the nearby CN Tower.
It has been that kind of season.
Yet, none of that could compare to the story of late Sunday night. In the minutes after the Royals' traveling party headed out into the night, a large chunk of ice would smash into the windshield of the players' bus. A bus driver, a local named Fred Folkerts, would be blistered by shards of glass. And Boyer, acting on instinct, would hop up and grab the wheel, hoping to make sure Folkerts could still see.
“He was bloodied up,” Boyer said. “The whole bus was rocked. It seemed like we got hit by an IED or something crazy.”
What actually happened, the full story of how a piece of ice smashed into the bus’s windshield, is still not totally clear. Yet a basic sketch was culled together on Monday, in interviews with players and coaches who shared the harrowing story with The Athletic.
“It was insane,” Moustakas said.
“That could have been real serious,” third-base coach Mike Jirschele said.
“We’re lucky that we’ve even got a team,” manager Ned Yost said.
Yost’s tone was mildly flip. The situation produced no serious injuries. Folkerts, the bus driver, was examined by paramedics and released at the scene. Yet in the context of this season, an unmerciful run of horrid weather and freak mishaps, it was a bewildering moment, Yost said.
In the minutes before impact, he was sitting on the traveling party’s first bus, which is usually reserved for coaches, staff members and members of the broadcast media. As the two busses chugged down the highway, the first one zoomed under an overpass. Two large “ice boulders,” as Yost described them, appeared to jar loose, flying backward at the second bus. Sitting in his seat near the front, Boyer had a perfect view. He could see a larger chunk fly to the side. He saw a second chunk headed right for the windshield.
Inside the bus, the sound of the impact stunned the players. Starting pitcher Jason Hammel thought the bus collided with the overpass. McCarthy thought it sounded like a thunderous “gust of wind.” Kennedy looked up from his seat, and Boyer was already at the wheel, his arm reaching toward Folkerts.
“He got up there and was like, ‘You all right, sir?’ ” Kennedy said.
The bus was traveling close to 55 mph at impact. The crash sprayed shards of glass shrapnel back to the third row, landing near outfielder Jorge Soler. Moments later, Butera joined Boyer at the front as they helped Folkerts guide the bus to the side of the road.
“The fellow that was beside me, he kept talking to me,” Folkerts said of Boyer, recalling the scene from his home on Monday night. “He was asking me silly questions: ‘Are you a hockey fan? Do you follow baseball?’ But now that I’m sitting here with my wife, I think he was keeping me from going into shock.”
Boyer downplayed his role in the near disaster. He is in his first season in the Royals’ bullpen and his 13th in the majors. He is here to offer guidance to a young bullpen and experience and professionalism to a clubhouse. As he spoke about his role, he sought to heap praise on Folkerts’ composure.
“He was a stud,” Boyer said. “That guy Fred was a trouper. He had shards in his face, and he was locked in on trying to get the bus slowed down.”
Boyer did not seek attention, of course. Yet inside the clubhouse, the image of him at the wheel was burned into his teammates’ minds.
“He saved us,” Gordon said, smiling as he walked toward the batting cage on Monday afternoon.
“Talk to Blaine,” Moustakas said.
In the minutes after the crash, after Boyer had helped Folkerts guide the bus to the side of the highway, they waited for an ambulance and police. Folkerts called his company, asking for another bus.
“We pride ourselves in making sure the players are taken care of,” he said.
Folkerts has driven a coach bus for nearly 25 years here in Canada, he says. He’s semi-retired now. But he has spent the last six years working for Pacific Western Transportation. He enjoys shepherding athletes around. Good hours, interesting people. So, as he was treated by paramedics on late Monday, his head still bleeding, he worried about his next shift.
It will come on Tuesday. Folkerts is set to drive the Royals to Rogers Centre for a doubleheader, a result of Monday's postponement. He would like to offer thanks, he said.
“These guys were phenomenal,” he said. “They guys basically helped take over.”
MINORS
Chasers Fall in Final Inning, 5-4
Oaks' strong start goes to waste in defeat
April 16, 2018By Omaha Storm Chasers
The Storm Chasers couldn't take advantage of a great outing by Trevor Oaks , as a 4-run lead turned into a 5-4 defeat in their road trip finale on Monday afternoon at First Tennessee Field.
The Chasers took the lead with 2 runs in the top of the 1st against Frankie Montas. Billy Burns and Jack Lopez singled, and Hunter Dozier walked to load the bases. With 1 out, Frank Schwindel lifted a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Burns. On the same play, Sounds first baseman Slade Heathcott cut off the throw from right and relayed the ball errantly to 3rd, allowing Lopez to also score.
Montas pitched 3 innings, and was charged with 2 runs (1 earned) on 3 hits. He struck out 2 and walked 2.
Omaha doubled their lead in the top of the 5th against Chris Bassitt. Humberto Arteaga walked, went to 2nd on a sacrifice bunt by Billy Burns, and scored on a single by Jack Lopez. After Hunter Dozier hit into a fielder's choice, Ryan O'Hearn was hit by a pitch, and Sounds shortstop Melvin Mercedes booted a grounder hit by Frank Schwindel, allowing Dozier to score for a 4-0 advantage.