SEATTLE MARINERS

Mariners vote to postpone game against Padres in protest

Aug 26, 2020, 4:23 PM | Updated: 8:20 pm

Mariners Padres PETCO Park...

The Mariners' second game at PETCO Park against the Padres was postponed Wednesday. (Getty)

(Getty)

The second game of the Seattle Mariners’ series in San Diego against the Padres has been postponed, joining a list of games that won’t be played Wednesday in protest of racial injustice.

The game will be made up as part of a doubleheader of seven-inning games beginning at 12:10 p.m. Thursday.

A second local pro team had a game called off later Wednesday evening. Prior to the Seattle Sounders’ scheduled 8 p.m. match against the Los Angeles Galaxy, the MLS announced that all games in the league that had yet to start for the night would be postponed.

Mariners player Dee Gordon shared a statement on his Twitter account late Wednesday announcing the team’s decision, which he said was a unanimous vote not to play, about 84 minutes before first pitch was scheduled at 6:10 p.m.

Mariners pitcher Justin Dunn also shared a drawing depicting Seattle’s black players wearing shirts stating “BLACK LIVES MATTER,” writing in the tweet “Enough is enough” along with an emoji of a fist and a #BLM hashtag.

The posts by Gordon and Dunn were retweeted by the official Mariners Twitter account, which posted a statement of its own after 5 p.m.

The Padres also released a statement.

The entire NBA playoffs schedule for Wednesday was called off after the Milwaukee Bucks didn’t take the court for a first-round game against the Orlando Magic. The Bucks made the decision in light of the shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man, by a police officer in Kenosha, Wis., on Sunday night. Milwaukee is roughly 40 miles from Kenosha.

Shortly after the NBA’s games were called off Wednesday afternoon, the Milwaukee Brewers decided to postpone their game with the Cincinnati Reds. ESPN MLB insider Jeff Passan then reported that other MLB teams were considering not playing Wednesday, noting that one such team was the Mariners, who have the highest number of Black players on their roster in baseball.

Around the time Mariners manager Scott Servais was scheduled to talk to media members at 3:40 p.m., the team announced that his availability would be rescheduled, and Baseball America’s Kyle Glaser shared a photo from the press box at San Diego’s PETCO Park of Servais meeting with Padres manager Jayce Tingler on the field.

Acee tweeted that a small group of Mariners players then met with a small group of Padres players, after which he reported that Mariners players had voted not to play Wednesday.

At 4:11 p.m. Pacific, Passan tweeted that the Mariners-Padres game had been called off.

The Mariners began the season with a group of Black players kneeling prior to the national anthem on opening day in Houston, then standing with a raised fist during the anthem, which they have continued in following games. Members of the team have regularly worn shirts during batting practice with messages in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.

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