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A few minutes after 7:30 p.m., almost three hours after Saturday’s game against the New York Mets was postponed due to rain, Washington Nationals manager Dave Martinez walked off the dugout for the second time in an hour.
Mets manager Buck Showalter was already on the field, staring at the ground and shuffling his feet on the infield ground. Martinez went near second base and did the same. They were trying to determine if the field was safe enough to play on, despite the court staff’s best efforts. The two crossed paths, chatted for a moment and then headed to the territory the opposing manager had just toured before meeting with the umpires.
Saturday’s game was suspended at 4:43 a.m. After several attempts to prepare the field, the game officially ended at 8:39 a.m. The fans grew more restless as the night progressed. And after a nearly four-hour delay during which they received minimal updates, they booed when the announcement hit the big screen. Saturday’s game resumes on Sunday at 12:35 p.m. before game two begins at 4:35 p.m.
Washington will pick 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 second- and third-place runners in the third inning, with their frontrunners coming to the starting line as the game kicked off.
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“When we first went there, it definitely wasn’t playable,” Martinez said. “When we went there was a lot of stuff thrown at it and still we decided it wasn’t playable. It was better but not playable. between me [crew chief] Paul [Emmel] and Buck we decided to ensure the safety of our players. We thought it was the right decision.”
It wasn’t raining a few minutes before the first pitch. Martinez said the forecast showed light rain but nothing too heavy. Trevor Williams warmed up from the rain and was the first to throw a clean throw. The Nationals fired at the bottom of the image. Lane Thomas hit a single, Luis García overthrew him, and Joey Meneses knocked Thomas down with a single. Washington eventually loaded the bases but was unable to mount another attack.
The rain got heavier as the game progressed. In the third inning, García was at second base with puddles forming around him. And when Michael Perez hit a double-to-center field on a ball that sent Alex Call slipping trying to track him down, the game was abandoned.
The decision to play so long could have left the pitch in a state beyond repair once the rain stopped. Williams remained in the Nationals’ bullpen during the delay. He simulated a live game by sitting 20 minutes between innings to do his job.
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When the tarp was removed just before 7 p.m., fans began cheering, believing the game would resume. The sky was clear. But when the two managers first stepped onto the pitch, they didn’t like the feel of the pitch. The condition improved after some work by the site personnel, but not enough to resume operations.
At one point fans chanted “Let’s play baseball” while waiting in the hall and in their seats. But there would be no baseball on Saturday night.
“I’m going to sit here and apologize to the fans because it’s been a while,” Martinez said. “But we wanted to make sure we were doing it right. That we gave them the chance to prepare the field. We just didn’t feel it was safe for the players.”
Henry, a 2020 second-round pick, will start rehab Tuesday in Fredericksburg. It will be his first start since his hiatus a season ago, which eventually led to surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome in August.
Henry started in the AA Harrisburg class last season and had a .76 ERA in seven starts, leading to his promotion to the AAA Rochester class. He made two starts there before his season ended. Henry bounced back this season and the team made his return to the field.