Rainey activated off COVID-19 IL, Fedde to be cleared Friday

It's not often a team has the ability to change its roster mid-game, but the Nationals and Reds both were afforded the opportunity today for the completion of Wednesday night's suspended game.

The Nats have activated Tanner Rainey off the COVID-19 injured list and will have the reliever available to them for the final five innings of the resumed game, plus tonight's seven-inning series finale. They'll also have Kyle McGowin available for the nightcap even though the right-hander was officially optioned to Triple-A Rochester and taken off the active roster for the completion of the suspended game. McGowin will be the designated "27th man" for the nightcap, which is permitted for doubleheaders.

Major League Baseball grants permission for teams to adjust their rosters for suspended games if a player either needs to be placed on the IL or becomes eligible to be activated off it. That rule allowed the Reds to place Jeff Hoffman (who started Wednesday night's game but was pulled during the bottom of the second) on the 10-day IL with a right shoulder injury and replace him with reliever Cionel Pérez.

Technically speaking, both the Nationals and Reds will have had 27 eligible players on their rosters for a game in which only 26 players are allowed to be eligible.

Rainey had been sidelined eight days after being deemed a close contact to teammate Erick Fedde, who tested positive for COVID-19 but was vaccinated and asymptomatic. Cleared to resume workouts Tuesday, the reliever threw a bullpen session that afternoon and emerged strong enough for club officials to determine he was ready to be activated now.

"We wouldn't have activated him if we didn't think he threw the ball well in the bullpen," manager Davey Martinez said during his pregame Zoom session with reporters. "The ball was coming out well. His slider was sharp. His mechanics were probably better than I've seen in a while. I talked to him last night, and he said he felt great."

Fedde, meanwhile, has been cleared to rejoin the club Friday to resume workouts, according to Martinez. The right-hander, who tossed seven scoreless innings for the first time in his career in his most recent start May 16 at Arizona, now faces an uncertain immediate future with Stephen Strasburg having taken his rotation spot.

Martinez said the Nationals have yet to determine a course of action for Fedde, but there are multiple options. They could send him on a rehab assignment to Triple-A Rochester, could keep him on the big league roster as a reliever or possibly even put him back in the rotation if they believe he's ready for that workload.

"He's missed some time, and we have to get him stretched back out," Martinez said. "We've got to figure out a good game plan to keep him healthy."