Rain-shortened loss caps sad day for Nationals (updated)

It should've been a glorious day, a chance to celebrate what happened at the end of the 2019 season and begin the 2020 season with a marquee matchup.

Alas, July 23, 2020 will not be remembered fondly by anyone in these parts. Unless you're a Yankees fan glad your team was awarded a rain-shortened 4-1 victory over the Nationals to cap off an evening that didn't go according to anyone's plan.

The Nationals lost their season opener after managing one hit (Adam Eaton's first-inning homer) in five innings versus Gerrit Cole. Max Scherzer struck out 11 during his 5 1/3 innings of work, but the four runs he allowed were enough to give New York a cushion that Major League Baseball deemed large enough not to attempt to resume this game after nearly two hours waiting through a rain delay that at first featured an intense downpour and later eased up completely, only to suffer through another round of precipitation after 10:30 p.m.

The outcome of the game, the first of 60 scheduled for this unprecedented season, seemed a fitting outcome to conclude a day that was disappointing in so many ways for the defending World Series champions.

"It's hard to describe. That's 2020 in a nutshell," reliever Sean Doolittle said. "A very emotional day. Very, very emotional day."

It began with the news Juan Soto tested positive for the novel coronavirus, preventing the star slugger from making the opening night roster. Even if subsequent tests come back negative and Soto is cleared to return to action within a few days, his absence was both felt by the Nationals on the field while also serving as a harsh reminder to everyone in the sport how difficult it will be complete this abridged season without disruption and legitimate heath scares.

The Nats tried to brush off the Soto news and turn their attention to the opening night event, but even that never felt right.

What should've been a celebratory pregame ceremony in which Nationals employees raised a World Series championship flag in the center field plaza and a 2019 pennant high above the scoreboard instead was a surreal, bittersweet reminder of the last time this team played a meaningful game and what could have been if not for the pandemic.

"We definitely wanted the fans here with us," manager Davey Martinez said. "I think the cheering of the fans would've made it that much more special. But that being said, I was amongst the guys, a lot of guys that were here last year. So that was fun."

Players were introduced with enthusiasm by public address announcer Jerome Hruska, but no response from the nonexistent crowd. The eerie scene felt more appropriate moments later, when following a Morgan Freeman-narrated video on racial justice, every player and coach from both teams held a long black ribbon and in unison knelt on the turf prior to the national anthem. Everyone then stood for pre-recorded rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" by D.C. Washington.

"We definitely want to be united through this whole thing," Martinez said. "We know there are issues in this country, and we need changes for the better. These guys all understand that. We got together. We kneeled for the ceremony. We decided to all stand up for the anthem. It was something that all of us agreed upon. I thought it turned out as good as it gets. This is for a major cause. We believe in it. We did what we could."

Dr. Anthony Fauci's ceremonial first pitch sailed and bounced way wide of the plate, the batter's box and pretty much everything else within shouting distance of that area. The two aces who threw the actual pitches after that had much better command.

Maybe too good, actually, in Scherzer's case. The three-time Cy Young Award winner grooved a 96 mph fastball to Giancarlo Stanton in the top of the first and watched the ball soar 459 feet to left-center, deep into the picnic area beyond the red seats for a two-run homer.

"I know he waited a long time to get to the opener, as we all did," Martinez said. "And he was a little fired up, a little antsy."

A first-inning bomb, of course, is really nothing new for Scherzer, who posted a 4.33 ERA in the first frame last season, then 2.66 after that. He has a knack for settling into a groove quickly, and that's exactly what he did tonight.

Scherzer followed the Stanton homer by striking out eight of the next 11 batters he faced, mixing in 97 mph fastballs with sharp-breaking sliders. But he was not unhittable. After walking No. 9 hitter Tyler Wade to lead off the third, Scherzer surrendered a double down the left field line to Aaron Judge. What initially looked like a potential play at the plate instead became an uncontested run when Andrew Stevenson (Soto's replacement in left field) couldn't start a clean relay with Trea Turner, giving New York a 3-1 lead.

Two more walks, plus a perfectly executed drag bunt left Scherzer in a bases-loaded jam in the fifth, the mighty Stanton at the plate again. This time, the big slugger went the other way and dropped an RBI single to right, extending the lead to 4-1, all four driven in by Stanton and Judge.

"Look, I got hit a little bit there early," Scherzer said. "But I was able to execute some other pitches as well. So as much as I could beat myself up over tonight, there's also some good things that came out of today that I'm happy with. Sometimes you've got to take your lickings to understand you can be better in the long run."

The lone Nationals run came via their lone hit off Cole: Eaton's solo blast to right in the bottom of the first. The spunky No. 2 hitter turned on a 98 mph fastball and sent it flying 406 feet, drawing audible cheers from the home dugout for the first time.

Alas, that's all the Nats managed against Cole, who plunked Eric Thames with a pitch in the second and walked Asdrúbal Cabrera in the fifth but otherwise allowed nothing during an efficient, 75-pitch performance that had to be prematurely halted because of the rain.

The threat of the storm approaching from the west loomed for several innings until the rain finally arrived as Scherzer got Gary Sánchez to whiff at a slider to open the sixth. Two batters later, it was coming down in buckets, lightning flashes nearby, so crew chief Ángel Hernández called for the grounds crew to unroll the tarp for the first time in 2020.

A surreal and in many ways sad day and evening now had its first truly normal moment: a rain delay at Nationals Park.

And two hours later, that rain delay officially produced a rain-shortened loss to cap a day that was disappointing in so many ways.

"It turned out long, let's just say that," Martinez said. "From this morning to now, getting the game cut off after five innings. We've just got to put this one behind us. We've got a day off tomorrow. Just come back Saturday and do it again."