Game 3 of World Series between Yankees, Phillies starts after rain delay of 1 hour, 20 minutes

Game 3 of World Series starts after rain delay

PHILADELPHIA — Game 3 of the World Series between the Yankees and Phillies started Saturday night after a rain delay of 1 hour, 20 minutes, the second consecutive year wet weather affected the schedule in Philadelphia.

In a light mist, Phillies left-hander Cole Hamels threw the first pitch to Derek Jeter at 9:17 p.m. Andy Pettitte started on the mound for New York.

The grounds crew came out to remove the tarp from the infield at 8:49 p.m., and an approximate start time of 9:15 p.m. was announced moments later. At that point, players filtered onto the field to warm up, with some puddles still on the warning track.

Baseball wanted to avoid starting the game and then having to stop it. The forecast for the rest of the night called for mostly clear skies.

Last season, Game 5 of the World Series between the Phillies and Tampa Bay Rays was suspended for two days because of rain. Once it resumed — in the sixth inning — the Phillies went on to a 4-3 victory that clinched the championship.

The messy ruckus led MLB to institute a rule in January stating that all postseason games and regular-season tiebreakers must be played to their conclusion.

Games that start would be suspended if they are called, regardless of how many innings have been played or the score at the time. A suspended game is resumed and played to completion at the same site.

Last year’s Game 3 started at 10:06 p.m. because of rain and didn’t end until 1:47 a.m. It was the latest start in Series history.

Light rain began falling about 6:55 p.m. on Saturday as the Yankees were taking batting practice on a warm evening. Once they were done, the rain got heavier and the grounds crew rolled out the tarp to cover the infield.