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Twins-Indians Will Still Play Puerto Rico Series

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On Wednesday, the Minnesota Twins and Cleveland Indians affirmed their plans to play a regular-season series at Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan, Puerto Rico. This announcement comes as Puerto Rico continues to recover from the damages caused by hurricanes Maria and Irma. 

In June 2017, it was announced that the Twins and Indians would meet in Puerto Rico for a regular-season series in April 2018. The series would include contests on April 17 and 18, and count as home games for the Twins.

However, that was months before the hurricanes affected Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico has been working to recover since, but–despite some damage–Hiram Bithorn Stadium will be ready to host April’s series. That was confirmed during a Wednesday press conference featuring representatives from both teams, and information was provided about the work that will go into Hiram Bithorn Stadium leading up to the games. More from The Cleveland Plain Dealer:

Over 50 percent of Puerto Rico is still without power. Hiram Bithorn Stadium was damaged during Hurricane Maria, but MLB officials say the ballpark is structurally sound. After Wednesday’s press conference, a winter league game was played there.

The only changes MLB will make to the ballpark for the two-game series will be to the lights. Musco Lighting will update the lights for the two-game series. Those plans were in place before the hurricanes hit.

The bullpens, batting cages and dugouts will be updated as well.

Major League Baseball has also revealed that it will donate $1 million to the communities affected by Hurricane Maria and the earthquake in Mexico. This will be the first time that a regular-season series is played at Hiram Bithorn Stadium since 2010. In that year, the then-Florida Marlins took on the New York Mets in a three-game set.

RELATED STORIES: Twins, Indians to Play in Puerto Rico in 2018

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