A few minutes past 7:30 p.m., nearly three hours after Saturday’s game against the New York Mets was delayed because of rain, Washington Nationals Manager Dave Martinez walked out of the dugout onto the field for the second time in an hour.
Saturday’s game was stopped at 4:43. After multiple efforts to prepare the field, the game was officially called at 8:39. Fans grew restless as the night progressed. And following a nearly four-hour delay, during which they received minimal updates, they booed when the announcement was posted on the big screen. Saturday’s game will be continued Sunday at 12:35 before the second game begins at 4:35.
Washington will appoint right-hander Joan Adon as the team’s 27th man for the doubleheader. Jake Irvin will make his scheduled start in the second game. New York had runners on second and third in the third inning with the top of their order coming to the plate when the game was called.
“When we first went out there, it definitely wasn’t playable,” Martinez said. “We went, and they threw a bunch of stuff on it, and it still, we deemed that it was not playable. It was better but not playable. Between me, [crew chief] Paul [Emmel] and Buck, we decided to keep our players safe. We thought it was the right decision.”
It wasn’t raining a few minutes before first pitch. Martinez said the forecast showed light rain but nothing too heavy. Trevor Williams warmed up through the precipitation and tossed a clean first. The Nationals came out firing in the bottom of the frame. Lane Thomas singled, Luis García bunted him over, and Joey Meneses knocked Thomas in with a single. Washington eventually loaded the bases but couldn’t put another run across.
The rain got heavier as the game progressed. In the third inning, García stood at second base with puddles forming all around him. And when Michael Perez hit a double to center field on a ball that made Alex Call slip as he tried to track it down, the game was stopped.
The decision to play that long might have left the playing surface in a condition that was unsalvageable once it did stop raining. Williams stayed in the Nationals’ bullpen during the delay. He simulated a live game by sitting 20 minutes between innings to get his work in.
Once the tarp was removed just before 7 p.m., fans started to cheer because they believed that the game would resume. The sky was clear. But once the two managers walked onto the field for the first time, they didn’t like how the field felt. The condition improved after some work by the grounds crew but not enough to resume.
At one point, fans chanted, “Let’s play baseball,” as they waited in the concourse and their seats. But there would be no baseball Saturday night.
“I’m going to sit here and apologize to the fans because it took a while,” Martinez said. “But we wanted to make sure that we got it right. That we gave them a chance to get the field ready. We just didn’t feel like it was safe for the players.”
Cole Henry update
Henry, a 2020 second-round pick, will make a rehab start in Fredericksburg on Tuesday. It will be his first start since he was shut down a season ago, ultimately leading to surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome in August.
Henry began last season in Class AA Harrisburg and had a 0.76 ERA in seven starts, leading to his promotion to Class AAA Rochester. There, he made two starts before his season ended. Henry rehabbed this offseason, and the team managed his return back to the playing field.