On Tuesday, the Chicago White Sox and host New York Yankees played a one-run game through hazy skies due to the remnants of wildfires from Canada.
A day later, New York manager Aaron Boone ventured onto the field and was taken aback at the worsening condition of the hazy skies above Yankee Stadium.
Shortly after Boone glanced at the skies, the scheduled Wednesday game was postponed. The teams will try to complete a doubleheader on Thursday when sky conditions may be similar.
“It was business for me as usual coming in,” Boone said. “I got in around 12, 12:30 (p.m.) and didn’t really think too much of it and I actually walked outside about 2 o’clock and I was like everyone else and I was like ‘Whoa.’
“I think if my reaction was similar to Major League Baseball and the world reaction, circumstances change and it became apparent.”
The Yankees will play after placing Aaron Judge on the injured list on Wednesday due to a right big toe sprain as a result of the slugger crashing into the wall to make a running catch on Saturday at Dodger Stadium.
Chicago heads into the doubleheader on a season-high, four-game winning streak and with five victories in seven games since closer Liam Hendriks returned from cancer on May 29.
The White Sox also are 20-14 dating to April 30 after Lucas Giolito pitched six hitless innings, Seby Zavala homered twice and Hendriks got his first save on Tuesday in a 3-2 win.
“We’ve been through everything — snow, rain, hail,” Chicago manager Pedro Grifol said. “I don’t think I’ve been through something like this. Today at one point, it was pretty bad out there. We walked out of the dugout and it was kind of orange. They did the right thing. They got all the information.”
Luis Severino (0-1, 5.28 ERA), who is coming off his worst start since returning from a lat injury, gets the ball in the doubleheader opener for New York. Severino was tagged for seven runs on nine hits in four innings during an 8-4 loss at Los Angeles on Friday.
Severino is 2-2 with a 3.35 ERA in six career appearances against the White Sox.
Lance Lynn (4-6, 6.55 ERA) who was originally supposed to pitch on Wednesday, will start the opener for Chicago.
He is 3-1 with a 4.70 ERA over his past four starts, though his three-game winning streak ended on May 31 when he tied a season high by allowing eight runs with eight hits in four innings against the Los Angeles Angels.
Lynn is 2-2 with a 4.20 ERA in five career starts against the Yankees. He went 3-2 with a 4.14 ERA in 11 appearances (nine starts) with New York over the final two months of the 2018 season.
In the nightcap, Randy Vasquez (0-1, 3.86 ERA) will go for New York in place of Nestor Cortes. The Yankees will place Cortes on the injured list due to a shoulder strain, and the team believes he will be out at least 15 days.
Vasquez has made one major league appearance, when he allowed two runs on four hits in 4 2/3 innings during a start against the San Diego Padres on May 26.
Vasquez is 1-6 with a 5.13 ERA in 10 starts for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes Barre.
Mike Clevinger (3-3, 4.13 ERA) is set to start the nightcap for Chicago. He last pitched on Friday against the Detroit Tigers, and he gave up three hits in five scoreless innings during a no-decision.
Clevinger is 1-1 with a 4.19 ERA in four career appearances (three starts) against the Yankees.
–Field Level Media
