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Danny Jansen joins Red Sox lineup at start of suspended game against Blue Jays and plays for both teams
Danny Jansen will make Major League Baseball history on Monday at Fenway Park.
The Boston Red Sox and Toronto Blue Jays will resume a June 26 game that was suspended due to rain in what will be the first game of a doubleheader on Monday. In June, Jansen, then playing for the Blue Jays, was at the plate with one out and one on in the top of the second inning when the game was stopped. After a 1 hour and 48 minute delay, the Red Sox and Jays announced that the game would pick up where it left off in a doubleheader on August 26.
Jansen was traded to the Red Sox on July 27, opening the possibility that he could be on the other side of the field when the June 26 game resumed.
On Friday, Red Sox manager Alex Cora confirmed to reporters that Jansen will come on to start the continuation of the game, which would make him the first player in history to appear for both sides in the same game.
“I don’t even know how this works,” Jansen said when asked about the suspended game after being traded to Boston. “I’ve heard about it a few times. That would be funky.”
The Athletics‘s Jayson Stark delved into the case and the unique nature of the situation last week:
GO DEEPER
Danny Jansen could make history by playing for the Red Sox and Blue Jays in the same game
In 13 games for the Red Sox since the trade, the right-handed hitting catcher is hitting .257 with a .794 OPS.
The Blue Jays will also have some funky developments in play. Blue Jays manager John Schneider said Friday that Jose Berríos will take over when the game resumes, but because Yariel Rodríguez was the starter before the game was suspended, Berríos will actually pitch in relief. It will be his first relief appearance since throwing 1 1/3 innings in relief in his final appearance of the season in 2017 – a stretch of 166 consecutive starts.
Meanwhile, Rodríguez will start the next day, Tuesday, making him the starter on consecutive days – sort of. Although the suspended competition ends on August 26, it will officially be recorded in the record books as having occurred on June 26.
(Photo of Jansen: Paul Rutherford / Getty Images)
