CHICAGO—A tiny crowd filed into Rate Field for a rescheduled Tuesday afternoon game. Because of a forecast of frigid temperatures, the White Sox moved the starting time from 6:40 p.m. to 2:10 p.m.
It was still cold, bitterly cold.
At game time, it was 36 degrees, tied for the second-coldest gametime temperature in recorded Orioles history. They’ve played in two colder games. It was 34 on April 15th, 2018 at Boston’s Fenway Park and on April 14th, 1971 at Cleveland’s Municipal Stadium.
“Everyone is very appreciative of a day game because of the cold,” manager Craig Albernaz said.
The cold didn’t bother the Orioles, who defeated the White Sox 4-2.
He said Orioles players didn’t try to minimize the effects of the cold for both the offense and defense.
“The old thought would be the pitchers would be better, but they feel the cold, too,” Albernaz said. “And they’re going in between innings to sit in the dugout, hopefully to stay warm, but they have to go back up to get ramped up.
“The hitters are out in the field, standing in the cold. They have to go hit. It impacts everyone.”
Growing up in Fall River, Massachusetts, Albernaz remembers plenty of nasty days.
“In high school, snow was on the field at lunchtime and in study hall, the baseball players on our team, going out on the field to shovel and playing through snow in April,” he said.
“I don’t know the exact temperature. I just know it was absolutely freezing and all of us were layered up and had Vaseline all over us to keep the heat in.”
Tyler Wells threw two shutout innings on Monday night when gametime temperature was 48 degrees and falling.
“It’s hard because whenever you’re in the bullpen, you’re kind of sheltered,” Wells said. “You’re out there not feeling the brisk wind and then you get out there, and your fingers are kind of numb. They don’t feel great.
“Your body’s super cold. Definitely the expectation is a little lower where it’s this kind of temperature. Control-wise, it makes it more difficult. It’s a lot more difficult pitching than when it’s nice and warm outside.”
Wells knows that hitting in the cold is hard, too.
“If you get one in on the hands … it doesn’t feel very good when you’re hitting,” he said.
Tyler O’Neill, who grew up in British Columbia, remembers a minor league game in Fort Wayne, Indiana. It was in 2014, his first full season in the minors.
“It was probably about 25 degrees and snowing. That was a nice little welcome to professional baseball,” he said. “It was cold out there [Monday].
“Chicago’s windy. You put that there on top of the cold. It feels like the low 20s, so definitely extreme conditions in that regard.”
Right-handed reliever Yennier Cano, a Cuban native, pitched a perfect seventh for the win.
“It’s uncomfortable, especially for us Latin guys. We’re not used to it,” Cano said through a team translator. “At the end of the day, you go out there and get the job done.
“I talk with some of the hitters, and they say it’s uncomfortable for them, having to face a guy throwing 100. Even for me, a guy who throws sinkers and them fouling those types of pitches off, it hurts their hands a little bit off.”
Gunnar Henderson, whose eighth-inning two-run home run gave the Orioles their margin of victory, was warmer than most. He was the designated hitter, so he wasn’t exposed to the cold as much as he normally would be.
“There’s about a 20-degree difference from the clubhouse, maybe even more, from here to out there,” Henderson said. “So, yeah, it was not any type of warm out there.”
Schedule woes
On Wednesday, the Orioles will play their ninth day game of the season. They’ve played just three night games in their first 12.
“It’s almost like players are in a rhythm for day games,” Albernaz said. “Because in spring training, it’s a day-game schedule.”
In spring training, the Orioles didn’t play any night games until the final week of Grapefruit League games.
Beginning on Friday when the Orioles host the San Francisco Giants, they’ll have a more conventional schedule, playing seven night games in their next nine.
“Everyone is always out of whack at some point,” Albernaz said. “Everyone across the league is still on that day-game schedule.”
Overall, the Orioles play 36.4 percent of their games during the day this season, 59 day games in their 162-game schedule.
TV network changes
Friday and Saturday night’s games will begin at 7:15 because they’re on Apple TV and FOX respectively.
So far, 11 games won’t be on MASN. Besides the two this weekend, the May 22nd game against Detroit (Apple), May 31st vs. Detroit (Peacock), June 11th vs. Seattle (ESPN), July 5th at Cincinnati (Peacock) August 8th at Texas (FOX), August 16th at Tampa Bay (Peacock), September 5th vs. Boston (FOX), September 16th at the New York Mets (ESPN) and September 20th vs. Milwaukee (Peacock).
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