SF Giants, Rockies will play double header after Thursday’s game is postponed
DENVER — After a week of stops and starts, the Giants were finally going to get Michael Conforto back in their lineup Thursday night.
They will, instead, have to wait another day.
Conforto, the Giants’ last remaining key piece on the injured list, was in the lineup as the designated hitter for their scheduled series opener against the Rockies, Gabe Kapler said. But not long after the manager had written Conforto’s name on the lineup card, the game was postponed.
The Giants and Rockies will play two — split doubleheader style — on Saturday to make up Thursday’s postponement. First pitch for Game No. 1 is set for 11:10 a.m. PT, while Game 2 will start at 5:10 p.m. PT. Separate tickets will be required for admission to each game.
“It could be a split doubleheader, it could be back-to-back games and they would all be strange challenges,” Kapler said. “I feel like we’re going to be OK.”
The game Thursday was called three hours before first pitch, an usually early decision that ends up being beneficial to both clubs, who won’t have to shake up their pitching plans too much. Rain was forecasted to begin around the time of first pitch and expected to last throughout the night.
Logan Webb, scheduled to start Thursday, will be pushed back and start Friday’s game. He played catch briefly in the outfield while the tarp covered the infield.
After that, Kapler said, “I don’t really want to plan the interesting day that will be Saturday yet.”
Keaton Winn and Alex Cobb, who also both went out to throw before heading back to the team hotel, were scheduled to start Friday’s and Saturday’s games, respectively. Sean Manaea was lined up to make his second straight start in the series finale Sunday.
The Giants will need to make a move to add Conforto to the roster, though Kapler declined to share what that was going to be for Thursday’s rained-out game. The 30-year-old outfielder has been out since Aug. 24 with a hamstring strain. There was optimism that he could have been activated over the previous home stand, but he hadn’t checked the final box of base running without constraints.
Traditionally teams would be able to add an extra player to their roster for the twin bill, but with rosters already expanded to 28 in September, that won’t be the case.
The postponement also gave Kapler a chance to catch up with general manager Pete Putila, who made the trip.
“We were just having a general overarching strategy discussion about things,” Kapler said. “Not game strategy, but just things that are happening around the organization. I haven’t had an opportunity to have those conversations in a while, which is nice. I can have conversations for the next three hours and not have them bump up against game time.”