Storm's approach delays series opener (Nats lose 5-2)

The foul lines and batter's boxes had been chalked, the infield dragged. The starting pitchers were beginning to stretch in the outfield. The sky above Nationals Park included a fair amount of blue.

Yet the start of tonight's game between the Nationals and Braves has been delayed due to approaching weather, the club announced at 6:40 p.m.

There is indeed a line of storms approaching from the southwest, though forecasts show the rain arriving sometime around 8:30 p.m., leaving a window for the two teams to play four or five innings first.

The Nationals elected not to take that chance, and so now fans who have arrived are staring at an uncovered field, the tarp rolled up and stationed along the third base stands, yet no baseball being played.

This delay comes after the Nationals and Mets waited more than two hours Wednesday night before postponing their series finale, with a makeup date still to be announced.

If they wait for tonight's storm to pass through, the Nats and Braves could be looking at a first pitch after 10 p.m. Or they could ultimately postpone this game as well and schedule a doubleheader sometime this weekend or add a makeup game Sept. 11 before the teams meet again in D.C. the following three days.

That Sept. 11 off day, however, also is an option for the makeup of the Nats-Mets game.

Update: After waiting two hours before the rain began falling and then another 30 minutes with a light rain falling, the Nationals finally announced their intention to play tonight's game. First pitch is now scheduled for 10:10 p.m., which will be 3 hours, 5 minutes after the originally scheduled first pitch, even though at no point during those 3 hours, 5 minutes would play have needed to be stopped.

Most of the fans that sat through the majority of the (non-)rain delay have long since departed, leaving an extremely intimate gathering for the game that now will be played.

Here is the message the Nationals sent out around 9:30 p.m.

Update: In front of a sparse-but-spirited gathering, the Nationals and Braves got underway at 10:10 p.m. The Nats took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second via Anthony Rendon's leadoff double, Matt Wieters' groundout and Wilmer Difo's sacrifice fly. The Braves came right back and tied the game in the top of the third with three straight two-out hits off Gio Gonzalez, capped by Freddie Freeman's RBI double.

Update II: The Braves have taken a 2-1 lead in the fourth after Bryce Harper got twisted around on Kurt Suzuki's double over his head and Johan Camargo singled home the run. Of perhaps more significance: Michael A. Taylor left the game after the bottom of the third with what we have to assume is an injury. He grounded out to third base in the inning, so perhaps he felt something running down the line. Whatever the case, Brian Goodwin has moved to center field and Ryan Raburn has taken over in left field.

Update III: It's now 3-2 Atlanta in the sixth after an exchange of home runs. Goodwin blasted an 0-2 pitch to left-center in the bottom of the fifth to briefly tie the game, but Suzuki turned on a first-pitch fastball from Gonzalez in the top of the sixth to put the Braves back on top.

Update IV: After Gonzalez went six innings, allowing three runs, Sammy Solís entered for the seventh and proceeded to surrender three doubles, bringing home two runs. Now the Nats trail 5-2 and will need to rally against the Atlanta bullpen.

Update V: That'll do it. After a 3-hour, 5-minute delay, the Nationals lost 5-2 to the Braves in 3 hours, 10 minutes. They had runners on base all night but couldn't string together enough hits to cause any real havoc. Gonzalez pitched well, but not well enough. The bullpen turned a one-run game into a three-run game. There should be plenty of reaction from the clubhouse about this one, in addition to an update on Taylor's injury.