CLEVELAND (AP) — The Cleveland Guardians and Pittsburgh Pirates will play a doubleheader on Saturday after the opening game of the weekend series between the teams was postponed on Friday night because of poor air quality caused by wildfires.The teams and umpire crew met at 4:30 p.m. EDT, when the air quality index was at 203, which is deemed to be very unhealthy and hazardous.The first game of Saturday’s split doubleheader is scheduled to begin at 1:10 p.m. EDT.The second game is scheduled to start at 7:10 p.m. EDT, but rain is forecast for most of the evening.Pittsburgh’s Jared Jones (1-1) against Cleveland’s Gavin Williams (10-4) — who were Friday’s scheduled starters — will take the mound for Saturday’s first game.The Guardians will call up Logan Allen (0-0) to pitch Saturday’s nightcap. It will be his second appearance of the season at the big league level. The Pirates are still determining their starter.The first series after the All-Star break is critical for both teams. Cleveland (51-46) came into Friday tied with the Chicago White Sox atop the AL Central while Pittsburgh (50-47) was two games behind Miami for the final NL wild-card spot.
“To get 48 hours to really just be with your family, be with loved ones, do something other than go to the field, it is super powerful. So I hope our guys got a chance to turn off and also what it does is it gives people a small reset,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said.
