Mike Carlson/Reuters
Alex Rodriguez before playing Saturday in Tampa, Fla. Rodriguez, who is recovering from hip surgery, began his 20-day minor league rehabilitation assignment July 2.
After meeting with Major League Baseball investigators for several hours Friday in Tampa, Fla., to discuss allegations that he was involved with a clinic dispensing performance-enhancing drugs, Alex Rodriguez did not show up for his scheduled rehabilitation game that night for the Class A Tampa Yankees, according to two baseball officials who were briefed on the matter.
The game was rained out, but Rodriguez was supposed to have been at the stadium and declined to go, the officials said. The story was first reported by The New York Post on Saturday.
Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman declined to comment.
After playing a game for Tampa on Saturday, Rodriguez did not directly respond to questions about whether he did not arrive at the ballpark for Friday's game.
"Yesterday was rained out," he said.
After a pause, he added: "Look, whatever conversations I have with my coaches and trainers, I will keep that private. But yesterday was rained out. I'm sorry about that."
The postponement of Friday's scheduled 7 p.m. game was not announced until 8:12 p.m.
With more rain in the forecast for Tampa on Saturday, the Yankees considered sending Rodriguez to Buffalo to play a road game for Class AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, but one of the baseball officials said that the Yankees felt that Rodriguez was resistant.
Asked about that, Rodriguez looked puzzled. "The plan we've talked about all week has been pretty consistent," he said. "We talked about on Sunday heading north. That continues to be the plan."
Rodriguez added: "I'm just very happy that the weather came through for all of us, that I played a full game and, again, I'm just happy to be back out there and on schedule, more importantly."
Rodriguez said he would play for Tampa on Sunday before flying to Class AA Trenton or to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. He said he did not yet know where the Yankees wanted him to play next.
Playing third base Saturday, Rodriguez went 0 for 3 with two strikeouts in his seventh rehabilitation game. He is 2 for 18 in Class A games, two with the Yankees affiliate in Charleston, S.C., and five with Tampa.
In the field, Rodriguez fielded two ground balls. One, a slow roller, went for an infield single; the other resulted in an out. In the fifth inning, he took two steps to his left on what looked like a routine grounder toward the hole, but he let it go to shortstop Dan Fiorito. The batter reached on an infield single.
"I thought today was probably the happiest I've been with the way my body reacted," Rodriguez said. "My running. Coming in on the baseball. It was nice to get a ground ball. I thought the way I swung the bat, it had more velocity; it felt like I had more power behind my swing. And those are the types of things I'm looking for, to impact the baseball and not just look for contact."
In his 18 at-bats, Rodriguez has hit the ball out of the infield twice: on a ground-ball single and on a soft line-drive single. Both of his strikeouts Saturday resulted from called third strikes on curveballs. The second strikeout came on three pitches.
For now, the Yankees are not expected to punish Rodriguez for not showing up Friday, with the understanding that he had gone through an uncomfortable meeting with M.L.B. investigators. Still, they were not happy that he did not reach out to them first to ask for permission, the baseball officials said.
Rodriguez, who had hip surgery in January, began a 20-day minor league rehabilitation assignment July 2. When it expires, the Yankees must activate Rodriguez or put him back on the disabled list.
But Rodriguez could be facing a lengthy suspension from Major League Baseball, which has been investigating allegations that he was tied to Biogenesis, an anti-aging clinic in Miami that has been accused of distributing performance-enhancing drugs to several baseball players.
M.L.B. has been conducting a methodical investigation in the hope of presenting an impenetrable case against the players that would stand up on appeal. If the league suspends Rodriguez, he has the right to appeal before an arbitrator through the players association, and the process could take months.
Peter Kerasotis contributed reporting from Tampa, Fla.
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