MILWAUKEE — (UPDATE @ 9:53 p.m.): The Cincinnati Reds and Milwaukee Brewers will not play tonight’s (Wednesday) game in protest of the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, according to several national media reports.
>> RELATED: Blake’s family calls for change, peaceful protests
The Reds were scheduled to face the Brewers at 7:10 p.m. at Miller Park. According to mlb.com/reds on Wednesday evening, the teams will play a doubleheader Thursday.
Games involving the Seattle Mariners and San Diego Padres, as well as the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers, were called off as well.
Major League Baseball issued the following statement following the postponements: “Given the pain in the communities of Wisconsin and beyond following the shooting of Jacob Blake, we respect the decisions of a number of players not to play tonight. Major League Baseball remains united for change in our society and we will be allies in the fight to end racism and injustice.”
The Cincinnati Reds organization issued this statement on Twitter:
— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) August 27, 2020
“Our team and the Reds felt that with our community and our nation in such pain, tonight we wanted 100% of the focus to be on issues that are much more important than baseball,” Brewers reliever and union representative Brent Suter said, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
A statement from players from the Brewers and Reds was posted to Twitter earlier Wednesday evening:
From the players of the Milwaukee Brewers and the Cincinnati Reds: pic.twitter.com/qkhH4AmBKm
— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) August 26, 2020
The news of the baseball postponement comes after the NBA postponed all of its Wednesday playoff games after the Milwaukee Bucks decided not to take the floor against the Orlando Magic to protest the shooting.
Three WNBA games set for Wednesday night have been postponed as well, the Associated Press reported.
The AP also reported that five of six Major League Soccer games were postponed.
Blake, a 29-year-old Black man, was shot from behind seven times by a police officer on Sunday. Blake’s family said he survived the shooting but now is paralyzed.
Thousands have taken to the streets of Kenosha nightly in response to the shooting. Tuesday night, police said two people were shot to death during the protests. Kyle Rittenhouse, 17, has been arrested in the shooting and will be charged with first-degree intentional homicide.
>> RELATED: Trump says he’s sending federal troops to Kenosha
WHIO will update this developing report.
Cox Media Group
