On a night when any other baseball game never would have been started, the Cincinnati Reds and Atlanta Braves tried and played half an inning in a driving rainstorm.
When a Viking warship was spotted sailing across center field they decided to suspend the game between and resume play at 1 p.m. Sunday — weather permitting.
They played 1 1/3 innings and the Reds are leading, 1-0, with one out and two men on base in the bottom of the first.
The pre-game pomp & circumstance rivaled any Super Bowl — a concert by country singer Tim McGraw, a son to former major league pitcher Tug McGraw, and Pitbull.
And players were hauled around the half-mile high-banked race track on pick-up trucks for the fans to see. There was a choreographed starting lineup introduction and a jet fighter flyover.
Just before the first pitch, the skies opened and the game’s start was delayed for 2 hours and 17 minutes.
Atlanta starter Spencer Strider, coming off two Tommy John surgeries, warmed up before the rain then was scratched after the delay.
The Reds scheduled starter, Chase Burns, who grew up in Tennessee, made his start and pitched a 1-2-3 first inning with two strikeouts.
And it began raining again. Hard.
Atlanta relief pitcher, left-hander Austin Cox, started for the Braves and struck out TJ Friedl. Matt McLain and Elly De La Crus beat infield singles and Austin Hays singled to score McLain.
It was newly-acquired outfielder Miguel Andujar’s turn to bat, but the grounds crew was called upon to spread Quick-Dri on the fast-flooding infield, then the tarp was pulled over the field again.
While they tried to wait this one out, the public address system played CCR’s ‘Who’ll Stop The Rain’ and ‘Have You Ever Seen The Rain’ and Eddie Rabbitt’s ‘I Love A Rainy Day.’’
After a short wait, the decision was made to quit waiting and try again Sunday.
An MLB regular-season record crowd of 85,000 was expected to surround the baseball field constructed for $7 million on the infield of the 146,000-capacity venue.
An attendance figure was not given.
And what did those who sat and got soaked see?
They didn’t see a classic baseball game. What they saw was a temporary artificial surface get flooded. After the Braves and Reds play on it, if they do, the field will be shipped 25 miles from Bristol to Johnson City to East Tennessee State University to be installed as the school’s field.
That’s if the field doesn’t float overnight to Johnson City.
A large pre-game focus was on Cincinnati star Elly De La Cruz and former New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez said on a Fox broadcast, “It’s good that people on national TV will get to see what could be the next best player for a decade.”
And former Boston Red Sox star David Ortiz said during the same discussion, “The viewers are going to get to see how special this kid is and he’s only 23.”
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