Washington Nationals’ Erick Fedde returning to start after landing on COVID-IL...

Though he wasn’t sure how things would work out last night as the Washington Nationals and San Francisco Giants waited to see if inclement weather in the nation’s capital would clear in time for them to play baseball, Davey Martinez did announce that Erick Fedde, 28, who tested positive for COVID-19 last month, was going to start one of the two games the clubs have to play today after Thursday’s planned series opener was postponed by rain.

“Fedde is going to throw one of these games,” Martinez said, when asked how he planned to handle the pitching with four games in three days this weekend.

“We don’t know. We’ll have enough to cover. We definitely got options. Could be Joe [Ross], could be a bullpen day.

“Could be a multitude of things. But I know Fedde will definitely throw one of them.”

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Fedde hasn’t started in the majors since May 16th in Arizona, when he held the D-backs to three hits and two walks in seven scoreless innings, but when the team arrived at the next stop on their trip, Wrigley Field, the Nats’ 2014 1st Round pick tested positive, and he went into quarantine in Chicago.

After he built back up slowly with bullpens and simulated innings, Fedde made one rehab start before the Nationals decided he was ready to return to the big league rotation.

“In his outing, he went five innings, threw 76 pitches. He felt good enough to go 6-7 with 90+. He threw a bullpen the other day, extended bullpen,” Martinez explained.

“He looked really good. Mechanics were really good, he had his legs underneath him, and he went through his daily routine as he always does with no issues.

“So, he says he feels good, so like I said, he’ll get a start tomorrow and we’ll see where he’s at.”

At this point, the manager said, there will be no limitations on Fedde, who made eight starts before landing on the IL, posting a 4.35 ERA, a 4.42 FIP, 18 walks, 36 Ks, and a .217/.307/.378 line against in 39 ¹⁄₃ IP.

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“No,” Martinez said, there won’t be any limitations. “And plus too, it’s a seven-inning game, so hopefully he can cover 4-5 innings for us, maybe more, and then we’ll go from there.”

Martinez added that he needs all his starters to go deep at this point, and this was before Max Scherzer left last night’s game in the second at bat and the bullpen had to pick it up there and cover 8 ²⁄₃ innings.

“If we get our starters to go six innings or even a complete game would be nice,” Martinez said before last night’s game.

“Give our bullpen a breather, but like I said, only the game will dictate how far they go.”

Afterwards, he reiterated that some length from Fedde today would be beneficial for their bullpen.

“Hopefully tomorrow, Fedde is going to pitch the first game, he comes out tomorrow, gives us some length, and we got the lead and then that bullpen comes in and holds them down again tomorrow.”