Dodgers vs. Nationals opener delayed by rain in Washington D.C.

The Dodgers’ summer of weather continued on Friday. Their opener against the Nationals in Washington D.C. was delayed by rain in the top of the seventh inning, with the Dodgers leading 8-5.

At the time of the delay, roughly 9:32 p.m. ET, Chris Taylor was due up to bat with Kiké Hernández on third base and two outs, with Andres Machado on the mound for the Nationals.

The game is slated to resume at about 11:05 p.m. ET, per various beat writers and reporters at Nationals Park.

Inclement weather has been a pattern on Dodgers road trips over the last two months or so.

Rain also affected the Dodgers’ recent series in Cleveland, with their August 22 game against the Guardians suspended after two innings and completed the next day, but not before yet another delay in the middle of the eighth inning. The delay on August 22 was 96 minutes before the game was suspended, and the delay August 23 was 73 minutes.

In both delays, the Progressive Field grounds crew had a quick trigger finger putting the tarp on the field, in both cases roughly a half hour before any rain actually came. It was so egregious that Guardians general manager Chris Antonetti went to the Dodgers clubhouse to apologize for how things were handled, per the SportsNet LA broadcast.

The weekend of August 18-20, Hurricane Hilary hitting Southern California forced the rescheduling of Sunday games in Los Angeles, Anaheim, and San Diego into doubleheaders on Saturday. That was the first weather rescheduling at Dodger Stadium since April 17, 2000.

Every other Dodgers rain delay this season have come on the road, in seven different cities:

• April 20 in Chicago (Cubs): one hour, four minutes (rain)
• June 29 in Denver: one hour, 50 minutes (hailstorm)
• July 1 in Kansas City: one hour, 25 minutes (rain)
• July 15 in New York: 46 minutes (rain)
• July 16 in New York: start time rescheduled three hours, 50 minutes later (rain)
• July 19 in Baltimore: 41 minutes (poor planning)
• August 23-24 in Cleveland: one hour, 36 minutes & one hour, 13 minutes (rain, too much power)
• September 8 in Washington D.C.: one hour, 34 minutes (rain)