Yankees vs. Red Sox to Be Played Friday Amid NY's COVID-19 Outbreak
July 16, 2021
MLB announced Friday's game between the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees will be played as scheduled, with the first pitch set for 7:05 p.m. ET at Yankee Stadium.
Thursday's game between the two AL East clubs was postponed because of a COVID-19 outbreak within the Yankees clubhouse. Six players tested positive for the coronavirus.
New York will place six players—Aaron Judge, Gio Urshela, Kyle Higashioka, Jonathan Loaisiga, Nestor Cortes Jr. and Wandy Peralta—on the COVID-19 injured list ahead of Friday's game, per ESPN's Jeff Passan. There's no minimum time requirement on the COVID IL, so the players can return whenever they've cleared health and safety protocols.
The Yankees' outbreak comes despite the club reaching MLB's targeted 85 percent vaccination threshold to ease coronavirus restrictions, per ESPN. General manager Brian Cashman said the majority of those who tested positive were asymptomatic after receiving a vaccine.
Thursday's game was MLB's first COVID-19 postponement since the Minnesota Twins and Oakland Athletics on April 19.
CNN's Dakin Andone and Madeline Holcombe reported Friday that COVID-19 cases have risen in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., over the past week, including 38 states with at least a 50 percent increase amid the "growing prevalence of the Delta variant." States with lower vaccination rates are seeing higher rates of the virus.
MLB confirmed Thursday's game would be made up Aug. 17 as part of a doubleheader.
The Yankees and Red Sox remain scheduled to play three games this weekend, including national broadcasts Saturday on Fox and Sunday on ESPN.
Boston (55-36) leads the AL East, with New York (46-43) eight games back in fourth place.