The Atlanta Braves and Cincinnati Reds were ready to start their engines Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee.
Then Mother Nature waved the red flag not once but twice before play was ultimately suspended.
The MLB Speedway Classic began with a 2 1/2 hour rain delay, followed by less than a full inning of baseball, followed by another delay that resulted in a suspension of play until Sunday at 1 p.m. ET at the same venue.
Cincinnati will take a 1-0 lead into the next day. The Reds scored off an Austin Hays single to left, their third hit of the frame.
First pitch finally arrived at 9:40 p.m. ET.
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Because of the lengthy delay, Braves starting pitcher Spencer Strider was scratched from the start. Strider, who grew up in Tennessee, went through warmups prior to the delay.
Left-handed reliever Austin Cox, who had previously started only three games in his brief MLB career, got the nod for the Braves instead. They were planning to lean on their bullpen Saturday night.
The Reds, on the other hand, didn’t scratch their starter. They still rolled with Chase Burns, a 22-year-old who grew up in Tennessee as well and played college baseball for the Tennessee Volunteers.
Burns produced a 1-2-3 inning to start the game.
Leading up to the original 7:15 p.m. ET start time, pregame festivities included performances from Pitbull and Tim McGraw, U.S. Navy Musician First Class Kathryn Dobyns singing the national anthem, NASCAR pit crews helping introduce the starting lineups by servicing Braves- and Reds-themed stock cars and a flyover by four U.S. Navy F/A-18 Super Hornets from Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach.
But the rain started coming down. It was pouring when Braves icon Chipper Jones and Reds legend Johnny Bench participated in the ceremonial first pitches.
Jones, an eight-time All-Star and one-time World Series champion with the Braves, threw to NASCAR driver Chase Elliott.
Fellow NASCAR driver Kyle Busch — a two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion — walked out to Bench, a 14-time All-Star and two-time World Series champion with the Reds, and traded spots, allowing the 77-year-old Bench to man his old position as catcher.
As the rain continued to hit the converted diamond in the heart of the race track, the tarp came out.
Nevertheless, a good number of fans originally expected to break MLB’s all-time regular-season, single-game attendance record Saturday stayed put.
Ken Rosenthal and Tom Verducci collected interviews for Fox Sports during the delay, showcasing how players and coaches for both teams still shared that enthusiasm.
The grounds crew started removing the tarp around 8:50 p.m. ET.
After the field was drained, the game finally started. But it wasn’t long before the rain picked up again and the tarp returned.
“We’ll be back tomorrow, 1 o’clock resume,” said Michael Hill, MLB senior vice president of on-field operations. “We are optimistic for a better weather forecast tomorrow.”
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