PHOENIX — Arizona Diamondbacks fans did not get to see a full baseball game on Monday night, but they got to experience rain in Chase Field, and that’s not something many people can say.
The D-backs’ exhibition game against the Cleveland Guardians was called after six innings due to rain, as the Chase Field roof was open and still cannot be closed with fans inside because of a cable issue.
Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo and Guardians manager Stephen Vogt met with umpires at home plate and decided for the safety of their players to call the game, as there is not a lot of evidence as to how the playing surface at Chase Field handles rain.
“I just said, ‘Look, we don’t know how to play on this surface that’s wet. We never have, nor will we ever,’” Lovullo said. “I didn’t want to put any athletes in harm’s way. We’d gotten to that point where the pitching that hadn’t gotten out there was gonna get pushed until tomorrow.
“I know we’re gonna be the idiots on just about every show and every podcast or whatever that we got rained out or not rained out but we didn’t complete the game and we’re in a dome. Stuff happens.”
Torey Lovullo knows the D-backs might look funny for calling Monday’s game after rain at Chase Field, but he says they “felt like it was the right thing to do.” pic.twitter.com/KP8ylUO1LM
— Arizona Sports (@AZSports) March 26, 2024
The organization has not been able to close the roof with fans inside since the 2022 season, and while a catch-all system is a potential solution for 2025, this season will have the same procedure as the previous two. Monday seemed like a typical, nice night for a ballgame, but the weather swiftly moved in.
“That was wild,” D-backs pitcher Tommy Henry said after six scoreless innings.
Ending a spring training game early is one thing, but the ordeal brought up a question of what happens if this were May?
“The tarps would go on the mound and on the home plate area as it was and then we’d wait it out,” Lovullo said. “We’d get a report and wait it out.”
Well, it’s raining in Chase Field pic.twitter.com/r3cVbAM8ts
— Alex Weiner (@alexjweiner) March 26, 2024
