Braves vs Reds MLB Speedway Classic Gets Resumption Time

From start to finish, the weather turned what was fun festivities at a NASCAR stadium into a total disaster. 

At the time of the game's suspension due to heavy rainfall, the game was in the bottom of the first inning with one out. The Reds had just taken a 1-0 lead on an RBI single by Austin Hays. Right after that scoring play, they stopped the game. 

Members of the grounds crew came out with several bags of dirt in the effort to control the water building up in the infield, but their efforts were futile. The tarp came out, and the game was postponed not long after. 

It was already a major stretch attempting to get the game in in the first place. The game had already started about two and a half hours late at 9:40 p.m. Rain was falling the entire time. 

The Braves opted not to start Strider in favor of left-hander Austin Cox, who is still the pitcher in-game at the time of the stoppage. Now, they’ll have to decide if they want to try another pitcher when play resumes. Cox very well could stay in. He just warms up again after only throwing 17 pitches and gets six or so outs in before turning things over. 

Technically, Strider could come in for a “relief” appearance since he officially hasn’t played in the game yet. However, it wouldn’t be too surprising if they took advantage of the pregame change to shuffle the rotation for the Brewers series that starts on Monday.

Erick Fedde, Joey Wentz and Carlos Carrasco are all penciled for that series at the time of this article’s publication. 

We’ll likely find out the plan by sometime in the morning. It’s a short turnaround, so they have to decide quickly. 

The MLB Speedway Classic is set to be the first regular-season game by either a National League team or an American League team played in Tennessee. It's also set to break a regular-season attendance record with over 85,000 in attendance for the game.

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