Reds-Nationals opener put on hold by rainy forecast

Out west, Rockies and Diamondbacks meet once again.

The Reds pushed back their season opener against the Washington Nationals by a day because rain is forecast for all day today in Cincinnati. They’ll open on Friday afternoon instead, taking advantage of what was a scheduled day off for both teams. It’s the first time since 1966 that Cincinnati has rescheduled its season opener because of the weather. The pitching matchups remain the same: Max Scherzer (16-6) vs. the Reds’ Homer Bailey (6-9).

Dave Martinez will have to wait a day before his first game as Nationals manager. He takes over for Dusty Baker, who was fired after Washington failed to make it past the first round of the playoffs again last season. The Nationals lost to the Cubs in the Division Series, the second year in a row that they failed to get deeper into the postseason under Baker.

Rockies, D’backs duel anew: The last time Colorado played at Chase Field was one wild October night. It was the NL wild-card game, and Arizona emerged with an 11-8 victory in a game that featured 30 hits, 17 by Arizona. The Diamondbacks had four triples, two by Ketel Marte, a crucial one late by A.J. Pollock and a highly unexpected one, driving in two runs, from reliever Archie Bradley.

“That game will linger in my memory as long as I’m alive,” Bradley said.

Colorado All-Star Nolan Arenado, who homered in that game, isn’t forgetting, either. “There hasn’t been a week I haven’t thought about that game,” he said.

Now the two teams, who share a spring training facility and are ever-so-familiar with each other in the NL West, will be back at it tonight in their season opener. “It doesn’t get old, right?” Bradley said. “We only saw them 15 times during spring (a slight exaggeration). Now we get them to start the season.”

Jon Gray, who never made it out of the second inning that night, will be on the mound again for the Rockies. Gray, 26, will be Colorado’s opening-day starter for a second straight season after going 10-4 with a 3.67 ERA last year. But the Rockies won’t face Arizona ace Zack Greinke. A minor groin issue altered his schedule, so manager Torey Lovullo chose left-hander Patrick Corbin to start.

Angels: With the regular season set to begin today, the Angels scheduled Shohei Ohtani to make his major league pitching debut Sunday in their fourth game at Oakland. The two-way sensation from Japan is expected to be Los Angeles’ designated hitter in at least one of the first three games, but manager Mike Scioscia said Tuesday night the team hadn’t decided on an opening-day lineup yet.

Rays: Pitcher Nathan Eovaldi has loose bodies in his pitching elbow and will undergo arthroscopic surgery. The 28-year-old righthander, expected to be part of the Rays rotation after recovering from Tommy John surgery, was placed on the 10-day disabled list Wednesday ahead of the opener against Boston. Eovaldi had a 3.24 ERA over 16⅔ innings in five spring training appearances. He last pitched in the majors Aug. 10, 2016, with the New York Yankees.

Mets: Tim Tebow was promoted to Double-A after going 1 for 18 with 11 strikeouts in big league spring training. The Mets assigned the outfielder, a former Heisman Trophy winner and NFL quarterback, to start the season at Binghamton of the Eastern League, which opens its season at home on April 5.

Dodgers: Spring training came to a repulsive end Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium. The exhibition finale between the Angels and Dodgers was cut short because of a foul-smelling leak that spilled sewage onto the field in the fifth inning. The game was called after a 32-minute delay with two outs in the bottom of the fifth, giving the Dodgers a 4-3 victory.