Twins-Guardians start time: Rain delay updates, forecast from Progressive Field on April 29

Inclement weather has battered much of the Midwest over the past few days, and now it seems like Tuesday night's game between the Minnesota Twins and Cleveland Guardians could be caught in Mother Nature's crosshairs.

These AL Central rivals were set to square off in the second game of a three-game set from Cleveland's Progressive Field, with first pitch set for 6:10 p.m. ET. The forecast, however, had other plans, and now it remains to be seen just when this game will begin.

For more news and rumors, check out MLB Insider Robert Murray’s work on The Baseball Insiders podcast, subscribe to The Moonshot, our weekly MLB newsletter, and join the discord to get the inside scoop during the MLB season.

Twins-Guardians weather updates: Apr. 29 game in danger

This article will be updated as the Guardians provide more information about the status of the game.

UPDATE: The Guardians have announced that the game will get underway at 8:50 p.m. ET. We didn't wind up seeing much precipitation at all in Cleveland, which will no doubt have some fans wondering why exactly a two-plus-hour delay was necessary, but we'll have baseball nonetheless.

Cleveland saw this coming in advance, as the evening forecast always promised the risk of thunderstorms in the area. The tarp came on the field even before the rain began based on the latest radar readings, and before 5:30 p.m. ET the team had already announced that first pitch would be delayed due to "impending weather conditions".

The Guardians have still to make any further update about when the game might get underway, as that will likely depend on when storm systems arrive and how quickly they pass through. According to the National Weather Service showers and thunderstorms are "likely" before 8 p.m. ET, with winds gusting as high as 32 mph.

Obviously, that's not weather conducive to playing baseball in, and Cleveland likely looked at the latest reports and determined that heavy rain was likely enough to preemptively push things back rather than starting just to stop after an inning or two or three.

There is some risk involved here, of course; weather can change in an instant, especially so close to Lake Erie, and it's always possible that Cleveland put the tarp on for nothing. But even if rain does arrive, it's not expected to last too long, so it seems unlikely that this game will be postponed outright. The NWS calls for it to become "mostly clear" as the night goes on, so once the threat passes — likely by 8 p.m. ET or so — we should be good to go.