Royals manager Matt Quatraro was frustrated that his team was left hanging in limbo. Blue Jays counterpart John Schneider was equally perturbed that his team wasn’t being given a chance to finish out a game it was losing.
At least Quatraro felt a bit better in the end.
After playing five innings, then waiting out a bizarre rain delay that stretched to 3 hours, 38 minutes, the Royals finally were declared a 2-1 winner Thursday — their third straight one-run victory to wrap up their four-game set with Toronto.
Salvador Perez provided both of their runs with a two-out, two-run homer off José Berrios (4-1) in the first, and Cole Ragans (1-2) earned the win by allowing the lone Blue Jays run on three hits and three walks in five rain-soaked innings.
The strange sequence of events began when the fifth inning ended, and an early drizzle had turned into a steady rain.
Umpire chief Chris Guccione called for the tarp to cover the infield, but Schneider came out and objected, arguing that his club deserved another opportunity to tie or take the lead. Guccione told the grounds crew to roll the tarp back and attempt to get the field in playing shape, but about 10 minutes later, the umpire summoned the tarp again.
The field was covered for about 2 hours. When the rain stopped, the grounds crew went to work, pouring dozens of bags of dry dirt on it. But after another hour-plus spent working on the field, Guccione made the decision to call the game complete.
The Royals begin a six-day trip against the Tigers on Friday with a rare 12:10 p.m. CDT start so that it any minimizes interference with the NFL draft in Detroit. RHP Seth Lugo (3-1, 2.03) is on the mound for the series opener.