Sport

Three games postponed as baseball joins protest at Jacob Blake shooting

Five Major League Soccer games and the day’s tennis in New York also postponed

The scoreboard at Oracle Park reads Black Lives Matter after the game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Francisco Giants was postponed on Wednesday. Photograph: AP

Thu Aug 27 2020 - 08:14

The Mariners and San Diego Padres’ MLB match has been postponed after Seattle players voted to join a pro sports boycott started by the NBA.

ESPN first reported the teams were not taking the field in San Diego, and the games between the Milwaukee Brewers and Cincinnati Reds, and the San Francisco Giants against the Los Angeles Dodgers, were also postponed.

The Brewers and Reds postponed their game earlier on Wednesday as part of the protest of the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Blake was shot in the back by police, apparently in front of his children, on Sunday, and his family say he is now paralyzed from the waist down. Wisconsin is 40 miles from Milwaukee.

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That decision came after the Milwaukee Bucks decided not to play in their scheduled playoff game against the Orlando Magic. Two other NBA games were postponed after that, as were all three scheduled WNBA games and five Major League Soccer games.

The Mariners have more black players on their roster than any other MLB team. MLB issued a statement Wednesday night.

"Given the pain in the communities of Wisconsin and beyond following the shooting of Jacob Blake, we respect the decisions of a number of players not to play tonight," the statement read. "Major League Baseball remains united for change in our society and we will be allies in the fight to end racism and injustice."

The Reds also tweeted a statement that read, “The Cincinnati Reds respect the Milwaukee Brewers organisation in the their decision to not play tonight’s game, and join them in pausing and reflecting on the events that are causing such pain and hardship in their local community and across our great nation. In our commitment to help bring positive change, the Reds support the players’ intention to build awareness of the issues around racial equality.”

Giants manager Gabe Kapler said about an hour before the game with the Dodgers was postponed that he was supportive of the NBA's decision to not play, prompting discussion about whether the game in San Francisco should take place.

The Dodgers and Giants subsequently postponed their game, then issued a joint statement: “Throughout our country’s history, sport has been a powerful vehicle towards change. The Dodgers and Giants proudly join our players in the shared goal for a more equitable and just society.”

The three postponed games are all scheduled to be made up as part of doubleheaders on Thursday.

Matches at the Western and Southern Open, which is being played in New York as a tune-up to tennis' US Open grand slam, will also be suspended on Thursday in protest against racial injustice. "As a sport, tennis is collectively taking a stance against racial inequality and social injustice that once again has been thrust to the forefront in the United States, " organisers said in a statement.

The tournament was scheduled to hold semi-final matches in both the men’s and women’s draws on Thursday but they will now resume on Friday.

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