Giants win tarp protest, game to resume Thursday

The Giants lost their game Tuesday night, but they won a battle Wednesday afternoon.

Tuesday’s game was declared a 2-0 victory for the Chicago Cubs, 4-12 hours after a bungled tarp deployment by the Wrigley Field grounds crew resulted in a water-logged infield and unplayable conditions.

Major League Baseball announced that San Francisco’s protest was upheld, and the game considered suspended, rather than being a loss. The Giants will continue play against the Chicago Cubs Thursday afternoon at 2 p.m. PDT.

The league offered an official statement:

“An examination of the circumstances of last night’s game has led to the determination that there was sufficient cause to believe that there was a “malfunction of a mechanical field device under control of the home club” within the meaning of Official Baseball Rule 4.12(a)(3). Available video of the incident, and conversations with representatives of the Cubs, demonstrate that the Cubs’ inability to deploy the tarp appropriately was caused by the failure to properly wrap and spool the tarp after its last use. As a result, the groundskeeping crew was unable to properly deploy the tarp after the rain worsened. In accordance with Rule 4.12(a)(3), the game should be considered a suspended game that must be completed at a future date.

In addition, Major League Baseball has spoken with last night’s crew chief, Hunter Wendelstedt, and has concluded that the grounds crew worked diligently in its attempt to comply with his direction and cover the field. Thus, there is no basis for the game to be forfeited by the Cubs pursuant to Rule 4.16.”

The presumed Giants starter for the resumed game is Yusmeiro Petit, with no official word from either club regarding lineups.

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