They waited nearly an hour before deciding to stop for the night and resume play at 5:10 Wednesday in Great American Ball Park.
Play will begin with the Diamondbacks leading, 5-4, and they have the bases loaded with one out.
After that game is concluded, the Reds and Diamondbacks will begin their original game scheduled for Wednesday.
It was inevitable that the Cincinnati Reds would win Tuesday’s game on a chill night in Great American Ball Park.
Never mind that Reds starter Luis Castillo was off his game and up to his bothersome habit of giving up runs in the first inning.
Never mind that the Reds were missing two big offensive operatives, Nick Castellanos and Mike Moustakas.
The handwriting was on the wall after the Diamondbacks, leading by three runs, left the bases loaded in back-to-back innings, the third and the fourth.
After Castillo was touched for three runs in the first inning and the D-Backs twice left the bases loaded, it permitted the Reds to chip away, climb from 3-0 down to 3-1 down to 3-2 down and to 4-3 ahead.
But when the rain arrived in near-monsoon fashion, the D-Backs were great mudders and took the 5-4 lead in the eighth.
The Reds were without right fielder Nick Castellanos because he began his two-game suspension. Third baseman Moustakas was originally in the lineup and was scratched and landed on the 10-day injured list.
That put Kyle Farmer into the lineup at third base and he produced a three RBI night, including a two-run home run that pushed the Reds from 3-2 behind to 4-3 ahead.
There were two outs and nobody on in the sixth inning and Tucker Barnhart was behind 0-and-2. But he worked a walk. Farmer also fell behind 0-and-2, but sent the third pitch into the great beyond, over the center field fence to give the Reds the 4-3 lead with his first home run.
And the rain came down harder and harder and harder.
Anthony Young led off the Arizona eighth with a home run off TeJay Antone. Amir Garrett replaced Antone and by now it was a bone-soaking deluge.
Garrett walked Pavin Smith and Asdrubel Cabrera doubled to right field. Lucas Sims replaced Garrett and hit pinch-hitter Wyatt Mathieson with a pitch to fill the bases.
Sims, throwing cold, soaked baseballs, walked Carson Kelly to force in a run to tie it, 4-4. It took two trips by Reds manager David Bell to plead with the umpires to cover the diamond before an ark appeared in the outfield.
They finally signaled for the tarpaulin.
Castillo had no clue or no idea where his fastball was going in the first inning. The first four D-Backs reached base on three hits and an error by second baseman Jonathan India.
After India’s error, runs scored on singles by Asdrubel Cabrera and David Peralta. A third run crossed while the Reds turned a double play.
The D-Backs left the bases loaded in the third and in the fourth. Shortstop Eugenio Suarez save at least one run, perhaps two, when he raced in short left and snagged b ball with his back to the infield.
That Reds went to work in the third on a double by Castillo, a single by Jesse Winker and Tyler Naquin’s ground ball, cutting the D-Backs lead to 3-1.
The Reds moved to within 3-2 in fourth, scoring a run with two outs and nobody on. Jonathan India walked, Tucker Barnhart bunted against the shift for a hit and Farmer singled for a run.
Farmer put the Reds in front, 4-3, with his home run, then the D-Backs used heavy help from the weather to take the one-run lead in the eighth.
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