Monday morning's annual Patriots' Day game postponed

BOSTON -- The annual Patriots' Day game scheduled for Monday morning at Fenway Park has been postponed because of the forecast of heavy rain.

The Red Sox made the announcement about an hour after their 3-1 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday, which completed an abbreviated three-game series sweep and gave Boston an 8-1 record on its first homestand of the season.

The game is scheduled for a May 17 makeup, which is a mutual off day for the teams before they start an already scheduled series at Fenway Park.

It's the first postponement of the game -- which has been scheduled annually since 1959 -- for weather since 1984. The game was canceled due to a players' strike in 1995.

The first pitch had been slated for 11:05 a.m.