As expected, thunderstorms approached Nationals Park on Tuesday evening threatening to interrupt the first meeting between the Nationals and Yankees since 2015. It wasn’t a matter of if but when the storm would make conditions unplayable.
It finally happened in the middle of the sixth inning — minutes after fans were advised to take cover as lightning strikes peppered the sky. It was an official game at that point, but the game was tied at 3. Baseball doesn’t do ties so the teams will reconvene at 5:05 p.m. Wednesday to resume Tuesday’s game before playing their regularly scheduled series finale. Both teams can add a 26th player to their rosters for the second game but not for the first.
The Nationals announced fans must have a ticket for Wednesday’s game — scheduled for 7:05 p.m. — to attend the end of Tuesday’s suspended game. That’s if they play at all. Wednesday’s weather also isn’t looking promising for baseball; forecasts call for rain all day. Both teams are off Thursday, but that day isn’t an option because of the Yankees’ travel plans.
Whenever Tuesday’s game is resumed, it’ll be the first time the Nationals will pick up a suspended game on another day since 2015, when a game started on July 17 against the Dodgers at Nationals Park was suspended because of a lighting malfunction and finished the next day.
Six years before that, the Nationals had a game against the Astros at Nationals Park suspended on May 5 and resumed on July 9 in Houston. The Nationals won on a walk-off hit as the home team at Minute Maid Park. The winning pitcher was Joel Hanrahan, who was one of two players traded to the Pirates 10 days before Washington won the game. Nyjer Morgan, one of the two players the Nationals acquired in the same trade with the Pirates, scored the game-winning run. He pinch-ran for Lastings Milledge, who was the other player the Nationals traded to Pittsburgh along with Hanrahan.
With the win, the Nationals officially improved to 8-17. A few hours later, they lost to drop to 25-59 en route to a last-place finish. If Wednesday’s forecast proves correct, perhaps a similar situation will unfold this season, with slightly higher stakes; the teams are scheduled to meet at Yankee Stadium next month.
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