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Colorado Rockies manager Bud Black, first baseman Ron Gideon and four players were unavailable for Friday’s home game against the Los Angeles Dodgers due to COVID-19 reasons, but clubs were planning still playing.
Right-hander Antonio Senzatela, Yency Almonte and Jhoulys Chacin and outfielder Yonathan Daza have been added to COVID-19 IL. The team said Black and Gideon were unavailable due to contact tracing protocols.
Rockies bench coach Mike Redmond will lead Colorado while Black is out, and Major League data and game planning coordinator Doug Bernier will coach first base. The club have promoted lefties Ben Bowden and Zac Rosscup, right-hander Antonio Santos and outfielder Sam Hilliard. The Rockies are among the teams to reach 85% immunization.
The virus wave comes as the Rockies exit the All-Star Game, which they hosted on Tuesday.
It’s a step backwards for Major League Baseball, which had not postponed a game due to virus issues for almost three months.
New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge, who started the All-Star game for the American League, was one of six players on that team to have also been placed on COVID IL since Tuesday. The move raised concerns about a potential gap at the Midsummer Classic.
MLB was conducting contact tracing as part of its protocols, and no further COVID-19 related postponements were announced in the league, with each team set to play on Friday night. None of the Rockies players added to COVID IL were All-Stars.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who led the NL squad, said Los Angeles players and staff have undergone two rounds of testing. These all came back negative ahead of Friday’s game against the Rockies in Denver.
“It is what it is, I just have to go with whatever they ask for,” said Roberts. “I hoped we had passed everything, but unfortunately we are not.”
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