Strasburg's return underway after rain delay (Nats win in 11th)

Stephen Strasburg is going to have to wait a bit longer to make his return to the mound.

The start of the Nationals' series finale against the Braves, featuring Strasburg's first start in three weeks, has been delayed by a line of thunderstorms that has been hovering near South Capitol Street for several hours but has yet to produce significant precipitation at Nationals Park.

The grounds crew stood at the ready with the tarp for more than 30 minutes, but the threat of rain apparently was serious enough to keep both starting pitchers from warming up.

The crew has now removed the tarp, and the Nationals have announced first pitch will be at approximately 8 p.m. EDT.

Thus, Strasburg's return from a sore elbow will still happen, just an hour later than initially planned.

It remains to be seen how far the Nationals push their right-hander, who has not faced live hitters since Aug. 17, when he was roughed up in Colorado for a career-worst nine runs in 1 2/3 innings.

"We don't really know what his endurance level is," manager Dusty Baker said this afternoon.

The Nationals do have plenty of fresh arms to pick up the slack if Strasburg doesn't pitch deep into this game. That includes Lucas Giolito, who was recalled from Triple-A Syracuse on Tuesday and for now is available out of the bullpen. Veteran Mat Latos, who pitched two innings Sunday in New York, also could be available.

Rookie A.J. Cole, meanwhile, has been announced as Thursday night's starter against the Phillies. He'll be followed this weekend by Tanner Roark, Max Scherzer and Gio Gonzalez, the Nationals announced.

Update: And after a 57-minute rain delay that didn't really feature any rain, they're underway at last. And Strasburg looked awfully sharp in his first inning of work in three weeks. He retired the side on 14 pitches, hitting 97 mph with his fastball and striking out both Adonis Garcia and Freddie Freeman on 91-mph changeups.

Update II: And the Nationals have taken a 1-0 lead after two innings, thanks to Jayson Werth's bloop single to right on a 3-2, two-out pitch. Strasburg wasn't as sharp in his second inning, but he's through two scoreless on 34 pitches, with three strikeouts (all on changeups).

Update III: What began in promising fashion ended in very discouraging fashion: Strasburg had to leave the game in the top of the third with an apparent arm injury. He grimaced after throwing two pitches, prompting head athletic trainer Paul Lessard and pitching coach Mike Maddux to come to the mound to check on him. After a brief discussion, Strasburg departed with face in glove, not an encouraging look. The Nats haven't provided any updates yet, but we've got a full story up on the site with what we know so far and will be updating that along the way.

Garcia's double off Sean Burnett tied the game in the third after Strasburg's departure.

Update IV: The Braves have taken a 2-1 lead in the sixth, but it could've been a lot worse. They loaded the bases with nobody out against Lucas Giolito, pitching his third inning of relief. Then Danny Espinosa made a spectacular play on Tyler Flowers' hard grounder up the middle, diving to his left and then flipping the ball straight from his glove to Daniel Murphy's to get a force out. The go-ahead run scored, but that's all Atlanta got because Giolito then induced a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning.

Update V: Well, the seventh inning proved to be quite eventful. The Braves extended their lead to 3-1 when Dansby Swanson homered off Giolito. But the Nats responded with a pair of runs in the bottom of the inning, both scoring on Daniel Murphy's single to left. That gives Murphy an even 100 RBIs on the season, making him the fourth player in Nats history to reach triple digits. The others: Ryan Zimmerman (110 in 2006, 106 in 2009), Adam Dunn (105 in 2009, 103 in 2010) and Adam LaRoche (100 in 2012). And so this game is tied 3-3 after seven.

Update VI: And we're going extra innings. After everything that's happened tonight, why not?

Update VII: So we're going to the 11th now. But it's now 4-4 because both teams scored in the 10th. The Braves came up with a two-out rally off Trevor Gott in the top of the inning. The Nats then came back to tie it up in the bottom of the inning on one-out singles by Danny Espinosa, Chris Heisey and Anthony Rendon. But then Trea Turner (of all people) grounded into a 4-6-3 double play to send this game to the 11th.

Update VIII: The Nats win in 11. Jayson Werth drew a leadoff walk, then advanced to third on Murphy's double to deep right field. The Braves intentionally walked Bryce Harper to load the bases for Wilson Ramos, who delivered the game-winning hit over the left fielder's head. Nats win 5-4 in 11.