Giants win protest, will resume rain-shortened game with Cubs

The San Francisco Giants on Wednesday became the first team since 1986 to win a protest filed with Major League Baseball, and will now get to resume a rain-shortened game the Chicago Cubs thought they had won.

MLB executive Joe Torre ruled on Tuesday night’s game at Wrigley Field that was called after 4 1/2 innings. The Cubs were declared the winners by a 2-0 score.

Now, it is instead a suspended game that will resume at 2 p.m. PDT Thursday with the Cubs batting in the bottom of the fifth. The Giants and Chicago have a regularly scheduled game set to begin three hours later.

A short rainstorm caused a delay of more than 4 1/2 hours Tuesday after the grounds crew couldn’t put the tarp down quickly. The umpires said the field was unplayable and called it at 1:16 a.m.

MLB ruled that tarp had not been properly put away after its previous use. Therefore, under provisions of Official Baseball Rule 4.12 (a) (3) there a “malfunction of a mechanical field device under control of the home club.”

MLB said in its statement that after watching video of the trouble at Wrigley Field and talking to Cubs’ representatives, “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 grounds keeping crew was unable to properly deploy the tarp after the rain worsened,” MLB said.

MLB said it talked with umpire crew chief Hunter Wendelstedt and that grounds crew worked hard to comply with his direction to get the field covered.

Etc.

Nick Swisher of the Cleveland Indians underwent surgery on both knees, procedures the first baseman/outfielder hopes will alleviate pain and prolong his career. ... Cubs shortstop Starlin Castro was scratched from the lineup for the game with the Giants on Wednesday because of a family emergency. ... Masahiro Tanaka threw 35 pitches in his second bullpen session as he tries to return to the New York Yankees this season. The injured rookie from Japan threw fastballs, breaking balls and five splitters at Yankee Stadium. He said he felt a little rusty, but his elbow is healthy and now it’s just a matter of rebuilding arm strength and getting sharp. ... Justin Verlander could rejoin the Detroit Tigers’ rotation on Saturday. Verlander has missed one start because of a sore right shoulder.