The ball game turned into a stall game Thursday night.
Fearing rain and possibly not wanting to waste starting pitcher Gio Gonzalez and have to use their struggling bullpen, the Washington Nationals made the Braves wait 3 hours and 5 minutes to start their game at Nationals Park in Washington.
It was technically a rain delay, but there was more confusion and frustration than rain. There was no precipitation until two hours had elapsed into the delay.
The players stood around wondering why they were not playing, and at least one, Braves All-Star center fielder Ender Inciarte, even tweeted about it.
The grounds crew didn't even put the tarp on the infield until 90 minutes after the scheduled first pitch. Light rain eventually fell, but only for a couple of minutes.
After the delay reached 2 1/2 hours, the Nationals posted a statement on the video scoreboard saying, “It is our sincere hope that we will be able to play tonight's game. The weather system that we have been monitoring is beginning to reach the ballpark & should pass through shortly. ... Thank you for your patience.”
Not many fans were left at that point.
Despite the warning, the grounds crew removed the dry tarp 10 minutes later, and players began warming up in the outfield.
The game began at 10:10 p.m. and the Braves eventually beat the Nats 5-2, with the game ending well after 1 a.m.
Take a look at Twitter reaction to the strange delay:
Inciarte was asked if he would spend time during the delay sliding on wet tarp:
Retired Braves great Chipper Jones didn’t understand the delay either:
More tweets:
Credit: Nick Wass
Credit: Nick Wass
Credit: Rob Carr
Credit: Rob Carr
Credit: Rob Carr
Credit: Rob Carr
Credit: Rob Carr
Credit: Rob Carr
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