Blue Jays-Indians game postponed; forecast bad for Sunday

CLEVELAND -- The Cleveland Indians and Toronto Blue Jays will try again in a couple of weeks.

The teams will play a traditional doubleheader starting at 1:10 p.m. on May 3 at Progressive Field after their series finale was postponed by rain Sunday. The game was called about four hours before the scheduled 1:10 p.m. first pitch. Saturday's game also was rained out.

Toronto, in its only previously scheduled trip to Cleveland this season, broke the Indians' five-game winning streak with an 8-4 victory Friday night.

Both teams should have a better chance of getting on the field in their next series. The Indians open a two-game series in San Juan, Puerto Rico, against the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday night. The Blue Jays start a three-game series against Kansas City at Rogers Centre on Monday night.

Corey Kluber (1-1), working on seven days of rest, will pitch the first game against the Twins. The reigning AL Cy Young winner struck out 13 and allowed two hits in eight innings for his first win of the season against Detroit on April 9.

The Indians finished 6-2 on their first homestand of the season, which included a ballpark-record low temperature 32 degrees for the start of the April 8 game against Kansas City.

Cleveland's strong pitching has overcome a struggling offense. The Indians have allowed three runs or fewer in 10 games and gave up 16 runs in the homestand. Cleveland is batting .200 as a team but has reached double figures in hits the last three games.

Shortstop Francisco Lindor has raised his average from .159 to .241 and driven in five runs the last three games. Third baseman Jose Ramirez, after finishing third in last season's AL MVP voting, is batting .160 while designated hitter Edwin Encarnacion is hitting .146 and had a 0-for-21 slump during the homestand.

The Indians are gradually working left fielder Michael Brantley into the lineup after he missed the first week while returning from offseason ankle surgery. Brantley is batting .286 with four RBI in six games.

Jaime Garcia (1-0) had been scheduled to start Sunday for Toronto, which has won seven of 10.

The Blue Jays are playing without third baseman Josh Donaldson, who was placed on the 10-day disabled list Friday with a sore right shoulder. The 2015 AL MVP is batting .239 with three homers and nine RBI in 12 games.

Donaldson is in Florida working on a throwing program; it's unclear how long he'll be out.

Left fielder Teoscar Hernandez, called up from Triple-A Buffalo to replace Donaldson, drove in the winning run with an RBI double in the seventh inning off relief ace Andrew Miller on Friday.

Right fielder Randal Grichuk, acquired from St. Louis in January, has struggled through the first two weeks, batting .071 amid a 1-for-16 slump.

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