Tanner Rainey was identified, through contact tracing, as having been in close contact with Erick Fedde, who tested positive for COVID-19 while the Washington Nationals were on the road in Chicago last week.
Rainey, according to Nats’ skipper Davey Martinez, was asymptomatic, but he still had to be cleared to return to the club, which he was this past Tuesday.
As the manager explained in Wednesday afternoon’s pregame Zoom call with reporters, the 28-year-old right-hander threw an extended bullpen on Tuesday, so the club was waiting to see how he responded before making any decisions on reinstating the reliever.