Pitching plans in flux due to postponements

April 18th, 2021

The Angels saw their scheduled games against the Twins on Saturday and Sunday postponed to allow for continued testing and contact tracing involving members of the Twins organization.

MLB made the announcement about Saturday's game roughly an hour and 20 minutes prior to the scheduled first pitch of 6:07 p.m. PT at Angel Stadium. Fans were already in the ballpark as the announcement was made but neither club took batting practice.

The announcement that Sunday's game would be postponed came later Saturday night.

The Angels were scheduled to start left-hander José Quintana on Saturday, while right-hander Alex Cobb was slated to start in the series finale on Sunday. Quintana and Cobb could be pushed back to the three-game series against the Rangers that begins on Monday at Angel Stadium.

Two-way star Shohei Ohtani threw a 30-pitch bullpen session on Saturday and also could return to the mound as early as Tuesday, according to manager Joe Maddon. But the postponed games could also result in Ohtani’s next start being pushed back as well. He hasn’t started since April 4 against the White Sox because of a blister issue on his right middle finger.