Storms rolled into Washington Friday night and took the Cincinnati Reds‘ sport in opposition to the Nationals with them, pushing again first pitch at Nationals Park about an hour earlier than the scheduled 6:45 p.m. ET begin.
However at 7:01 p.m., the Nationals introduced “Tonight’s sport will start at roughly 7:45 p.m.” The Nationals confirmed the brand new begin time on its Sport Delay and Postponement Info website.
The Nationals confirmed the preliminary delay at roughly 5:41 p.m. ET, writing, “The beginning of as we speak’s sport has been delayed resulting from inclement climate. We’re monitoring the scenario and can present an replace as extra data turns into accessible,” in line with the group’s official announcement.
The AccuWeather forecast for Nationals Park confirmed a thunderstorm watch in impact via 9 p.m., but additionally confirmed the storms easing about an hour upfront of the watch’s expiration.
| CINCINNATI REDS STARTING LINEUP | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SP: Chase Petty (RHP, #61) • 1-2, 4.50 ERA, 14 Okay | ||||||||
| August 7, 2026 • Nationals Park, Washington, DC • 6:45 PM EDT (Delay) | ||||||||
| # | Participant | Pos | B | HR | RBI | SB | AVG | OPS |
| 1 | Elly De La Cruz | SS | S | 19 | 53 | 21 | .276 | .857 |
| 2 | Sal Stewart | 1B | R | 25 | 87 | 12 | .257 | .820 |
| 3 | JJ Bleday | LF | L | 20 | 47 | 6 | .230 | .814 |
| 4 | Tyler Stephenson | C | R | 10 | 33 | 0 | .252 | .757 |
| 5 | Eugenio Suárez | DH | R | 14 | 40 | 0 | .202 | .668 |
| 6 | Héctor Rodríguez | CF | L | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .286 |
| 7 | Noelvi Marte | RF | R | 6 | 15 | 6 | .197 | .580 |
| 8 | Ke’Bryan Hayes | 3B | R | 4 | 7 | 1 | .139 | .436 |
| 9 | Matt McLain | 2B | R | 9 | 27 | 13 | .190 | .620 |
| Lineups topic to alter. Sport topic to climate delay. | ||||||||
What the Reds-Nationals Rain Delay Means
A delay will not be a postponement. Beneath baseball’s guidelines, a delay retains the sport on as we speak’s schedule, with the tarp coming off and play resuming from the precise spot the place it stopped as soon as the climate clears, and tickets bought for tonight stay legitimate no matter how lengthy the wait runs, in line with SeatGeek’s breakdown of MLB rain-delay coverage. A postponement is a distinct animal fully — the sport will get wiped and rescheduled, usually as a part of a doubleheader, and authority over that decision rests first with the house membership earlier than shifting to the umpiring crew as soon as lineups are exchanged.
Neither the Reds nor the Nationals are chasing October. Cincinnati sits at 56-58, fourth within the Nationwide League Central, whereas Washington sits at 56-61, fourth within the NL East, in line with theScore’s matchup web page for Friday’s sport. Each golf equipment are previous the purpose of postseason relevance and into analysis mode, sizing up younger expertise and workload administration over the season’s last two months.
| WASHINGTON NATIONALS STARTING LINEUP | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SP: Cade Cavalli (RHP, #24) • 8-5, 3.52 ERA, 133 Okay | ||||||||
| August 7, 2026 • Nationals Park, Washington, DC • 6:45 PM EDT (Delay) | ||||||||
| # | Participant | Pos | B | HR | RBI | SB | AVG | OPS |
| 1 | CJ Abrams | DH | L | 28 | 88 | 21 | .287 | .913 |
| 2 | Abimelec Ortiz | 1B | L | 1 | 1 | 0 | .250 | .833 |
| 3 | Brady Home | 3B | R | 8 | 27 | 1 | .228 | .683 |
| 4 | Daylen Lile | LF | L | 14 | 56 | 11 | .242 | .705 |
| 5 | Dylan Crews | RF | R | 9 | 25 | 7 | .221 | .671 |
| 6 | Harry Ford | C | R | 1 | 4 | 1 | .188 | .708 |
| 7 | Nasim Nuñez | SS | S | 1 | 33 | 40 | .233 | .589 |
| 8 | José Tena | 2B | L | 5 | 20 | 3 | .235 | .686 |
| 9 | Jacob Younger | CF | R | 9 | 39 | 13 | .242 | .707 |
| Lineups topic to alter. Sport topic to climate delay. | ||||||||
How the Delay Impacts Reds, Nationals Beginning Pitchers
Chase Petty was set to start out for Cincinnati carrying a 1-2 file and 4.50 ERA, reverse Washington’s Cade Cavalli, who entered at 8-5 with a 3.52 ERA. An extended sufficient delay places each arms in jeopardy of a shortened outing or scrapped begin fully, since managers sometimes received’t let a starter sit via an prolonged wait after which push via a full workload as soon as play resumes. That dynamic accelerates bullpen utilization for either side, an actual price for 2 non-contending golf equipment making an attempt to guard pitching depth already thinned by accidents on each rosters.
The extreme thunderstorm watch blanketing the D.C. area ran till 9 p.m., with forecasters warning of gusts as much as 65 mph in any storm that fired up. “There’s a slight danger for damaging wind gusts as much as 65 mph with any of the storms that develop,” 7News meteorologist Jordan Evans mentioned, as quoted by WTOP’s protection of the area’s storm risk. Evans added that the storms ought to clear the world after sundown.
Skies had been anticipated to remain unsettled effectively previous first pitch. Showers and thunderstorms remained seemingly primarily earlier than 9 p.m., with an in a single day low close to 73 and a 60% likelihood of rain, in line with the Nationwide Climate Service’s forecast for Washington. Saturday brings one other spherical of warmth and humidity, with highs close to 91 and a 40% likelihood of afternoon storms arriving after 3 p.m. Followers and each golf equipment are watching the identical radar, ready for a inexperienced mild that determines whether or not tonight’s sport will get performed as scheduled or bleeds into the weekend.
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