Aug 14, 2020 4 min read

St. Louis Cardinals coach Willie McGee has opted out of being with the team for the rest of the season while Major League Baseball announced Friday several doubleheaders to make up for games St. Louis has missed because of the coronavirus.

The 61-year-old McGee, a four-time All-Star outfielder and the 1985 NL MVP for the Cardinals, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch he has high blood pressure. McGee said he had three older daughters and five grandchildren living at his family home in California.

McGee said he doesn’t have the virus, but added, “having an underlying health issue with high blood pressure, I just don’t know how I would react if I were to get sick and I’m still not out of the woods.”

The Cardinals are 2-3 this season and haven’t played since July 29 because of a virus outbreak that hit the team. Their game in Chicago against the White Sox scheduled for Friday night was called off.

St. Louis is set for a twinbill Saturday with the White Sox.

To make up for previously postponed games, the Cardinals will play doubleheaders against the Chicago Cubs on Aug. 17, Aug. 19 and Sept. 5. St. Louis and Pittsburgh will play twinbills on Aug. 27 and Sept. 18, and the Cardinals will have a doubleheader Sept. 8 against Minnesota.

American League

Toronto 12, Tampa Bay 4: Teoscar Hernández hit two of Toronto’s six home runs, Bo Bichette connected for the fourth straight game and the Blue Jays kept knocking balls out of their new Buffalo park, beating the Tampa Bay Rays, 12-4.

Along with their seven homers in a 14-11 loss to Miami on Wednesday night at Sahlen Field, Toronto became the fourth team in major league history to hit at least six homers in back-to-back games. The Blue Jays joined the Dodgers (1996), Angels (2003) and Washington (2012).

Randal Grichuk hit a tying homer in the sixth, Bichette added a three-run drive and Hernández connected to cap the five-run inning that made it 8-4.

Minnesota-Kansas City ppd: The Minnesota Twins postponed their game against the Kansas City Royals because of stormy weather, scheduling a straight doubleheader Saturday instead to start the series.

The doubleheader will start at 12:35 p.m., with the second half of the twinbill scheduled to begin 30 minutes following the end of the first game. All doubleheaders in Major League Baseball during this virus-shortened 60-game season are seven-inning games.

Laureano’s suspension trimmed: Oakland Athletics center fielder Ramon Laureano had a six-game suspension reduced to four games after appealing the penalty for his role in a benches-clearing brawl with the rival Houston Astros.

Major League Baseball said a settlement had been reached and the A’s were informed of the decision. Laureano was set to begin the four-game suspension Friday night and will miss a three-game weekend Bay Bridge Series against the San Francisco Giants. After sitting out Monday at Arizona, he will be eligible to play Tuesday against the Diamondbacks.

Indians demote Clevinger, Plesac: After hearing Mike Clevinger and Zach Plesac explain their actions, the Cleveland Indians sent the pitchers to their alternate training site after the two broke team rules and Major League Baseball coronavirus protocol last weekend in Chicago.

Clevinger and Plesac drove to Detroit separately with their baseball equipment Thursday for an “open forum” meeting at the team’s hotel before the Indians opened a series with the Tigers.

Indians President of Baseball Operations Chris Antonetti said following “the discussion” that he met with manager Terry Francona, general manager Mike Chernoff and decided it was best to option Plesac and Clevinger to the alternate training site instead of allowing them to rejoin the team.