By Harvey Hoffman
The MLB season finally started amid the pandemic last night with plenty of unusual elements — zero fans, umpires wearing masks, Nats star Juan Soto sidelined by COVID-19, all Nationals and Yankees kneeling together before the national anthem.
“It’s hard to describe. That’s 2020 in a nutshell,” said Nationals pitcher Sean Doolittle, who was supposed to catch Dr. Anthony Fauci’s way-off-the-mark ceremonial first pitch. “Very emotional day. Very, very emotional day.”
And there was plenty that actually made it all seem something resembling normal: Gerrit Cole’s five terrific innings, big hits from Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge and a 4-1 storm-halted victory for the big-name Yankees over the defending champion Nationals.
“It was a lot of fun. No one could have envisioned the type of year we’re having this year, but within those parameters, it exceeded every mark,” said Cole, who allowed only Adam Eaton’s first-inning homer and joked about recording a complete game. “I just had a blast.”
Max Scherzer, who struck out 11 but gave up all of New York’s runs, chose to look at the bright side, saying: “I’d rather be playing baseball than not. That’s the way I look at it. All the things we can get negative about and cry about, I’m just not going to do it.”
What began as a muggy evening turned into a dark, windy downpour, replete with rumbles of thunder and flashes of lightning, prompting a delay in the top of the sixth inning.
After waiting 1 hour, 58 minutes — 15 minutes more than were played — the game was called off and goes into the books as a win for New York.
Three-time Cy Young Award winner Scherzer (0-1) served up a two-run homer to 2017 NL MVP Stanton that traveled 459 feet in the first, an RBI double to 2017 AL Rookie of the Year Judge in the third, and an RBI single to Stanton in the fifth.
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