Sunday's game between the Chicago Cubs and the Washington Nationals was postponed because of rain and rescheduled for Thursday at 4:05 p.m.

 

The decision was announced three hours after the scheduled 1:35 p.m. start time. Thursday is the teams' only remaining mutual day off.

 

Rain fell at Nationals Park throughout the weekend.

 

The start of Friday's game was delayed 1 hour, 21 minutes. The rain returned with two outs in the top of the second inning and play was stopped. The game was postponed after a wait of 2 hours, 55 minutes when the rain had stopped.

 

Saturday became a doubleheader that was supposed to start at 3:05 p.m. but didn't get underway until 5 p.m. A between-games ceremony honoring former National Jason Werth and another rain delay in the nightcap led to 1:44 a.m. conclusion as Washington swept the Cubs.

 

Chicago began Sunday with a 2½-game lead the NL Central while Washington was 7½ games behind Atlanta in the NL East.

 

The Cubs, in the midst of 23 games in 23 days, finished a four-city road trip 5-5.

 

Washington snapped a three-game skid with Saturday's sweep, which was led by their ace hurler and all-star slugger. After Max Scherzer tossed a complete game in the opener, Bryce Harper's two-run homer capped a three-run rally in the seventh inning of the nightcap.

 

The Nationals also got a homer from Anthony Rendon and key relief work from Sean Doolittle and Greg Holland.