The Cleveland Guardians entered Thursday's action hoping to win a series at home against a Minnesota Twins team that has not gotten off to a great start. After winning two of the first three games of this four-game series and leading by a score of 2-0 after six innings, it felt as if they were well on their way. Unfortunately, Mother Nature has intervened and will, at the very least, delay what they hope will be the inevitable.
For the second time in this four-game series, there has been a rain delay. The Guardians have been hammered by rain in the early going, and the same can be said about the Twins, who, according to Dan Hayes of The Athletic, are delayed for the sixth time in their first 32 games.
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Update: After the shortest possible delay, Thursday's Twins-Guardians game has officially resumed play in the top of the seventh inning.
Update No. 2: They were able to get an inning in, but the game has officially been delayed again. As Hayes noted, the radar makes it likely for this one to be much longer. Be sure to check back here for the latest updates.
Update No. 3: The game is officially set to resume at 5:55 p.m. ET. It will have been a little over two hours since the game was delayed for the second time.
Twins vs. Guardians rain delay: What's Thursday's forecast in Cleveland?
While it's great to see the game resumed, there's reason to be slightly concerned for those watching or attending this game that it can be delayed again based on what Weather.com's forecast has to say.
There's a window in which they're in now with no rain, but thunderstorms are expected to start back up again at 4:00 p.m. ET and aren't supposed to stop until after 5:00 p.m. ET. While the game is in its late stages, it's probably unlikely it'll be wrapped up before the rain resumes, leaving the status of when this game will actually wrap up very much up in the air.
This game is a big one for both teams. The Guardians have gotten off to a solid start to their season, entering Thursday's action at 17-13, good for second place in the AL Central. The Twins, on the other hand, are just 13-18 and have several injury concerns.
With the game now knotted at two apiece, it'll be a battle of the bullpens the rest of the way, The Guardians should have the advantage in that case, but as is always clear in the game of baseball, you never really know what's going to happen.