Phillies-Pirates get rain delay update at start of rivalry series

The Philadelphia Phillies and Pittsburgh Pirates are looking at three games worth of Pennsylvania rivalry baseball this weekend.

Thursday night's series opener isn't starting on time, though.

The teams are in a rain delay, pushing past 7 p.m. ET with no sure start time in sight.

Initially, a tarp wasn't on the field, according to The Athletic's Matt Gelb. Eventually, the tarp came out.

They are going to wait for an incoming storm to pass, rather than start the game and risk the starting pitchers sitting too long," Gelb wrote on X. "So ... might be a bit."

Friday's matchup is slated to match up a pair of southpaws.

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Pirates lefty Andrew Heaney has a 3.15 ERA this season.

Phillies lefty Ranger Suarez is just working back from injury and so far is 1-0 with a 5.91 ERA.

The Pirates enter the weekend at 15-29, while the Phillies are 25-18.

They are scheduled to play Saturday at 6:05 p.m. ET (Carmen Mlodzinski vs. Zack Wheeler) and Sunday at 1:35 p.m. ET (Paul Skenes vs. Mick Abel).

There's room in the schedule to play a doubleheader in one of the next two days, if necessary.

But it sounds like the teams are waiting things out on Friday night.

Amusingly, the Phillies are showing the Yankees-Mets game on the scoreboard during the delay, and when Juan Soto came to the plate, some fans booed.

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