BOSTON — The Mets overcame an early three-run deficit but an hour-long downpour drenched their momentum on Friday night at Fenway Park.
The contest was suspended with the Mets leading the Red Sox, 4-3, with one out in the bottom of the fourth inning in the series opener.
Kodai Senga had just registered his fifth straight out with a strikeout of Adam Duvall before the umpires stopped the game at 8:20 pm The game will resume at 2:10 pm on Saturday. The originally scheduled Saturday game will begin at 7:10 pm
Buck Showalter said he Billy Eppler shut down some pitchers from throwing in Triple-A so they could be available for Saturday night’s game. The Mets manager added that David Peterson could be an option to provide length.
“I’m not going to broadcast it from a strategic standpoint,” Buck Showalter said of Saturday’s pitching plans. “We’re still talking about it. We get a 27th (player) for the second game. We reached a point there where Kodai wasn’t going to continue anyway.”
Senga had been rounding into form after two unfortunate opening innings. In the first inning, he gave up a leadoff double to Jarren Duran before an errant throw by Francisco Alvarez on a steal attempt allowed him to reach third. The Red Sox left fielder scored on a groundball from Justin Turner in the next at-bat.
Senga got out of the inning with an acrobatic jump throw from the right of the mound to throw out Rafael Devers at first base.
The Red Sox mounted a two-out rally in the bottom of the second as Triston Casas walked and Connor Wong singled to left field. Both runs scored when a towering fly ball from Yu Chang glanced off the Green Monster.
“I first thought he was jammed and I thought, ‘Oh, he might be out,'” Senga said of the two-run double. “But the second thought got to me that I’m playing at Fenway, so I wasn’t sure what was going to happen.”
Senga’s outing was cut short after he threw 63 pitches across 3⅔ innings with three earned runs allowed on three hits and one walk with three strikeouts.
“It’s always fun watching him pitch. He competes,” Showalter said. “He made a really great play athletically. I thought he was carrying good stuff. They’re a good team playing very well. He seemed to be getting better as the game went on.”
The Mets mounted a response with Brandon Nimmo belting a two-run home run in the top of the third and Daniel Vogelbach knocking a two-run shot of his own in the top of the fourth to give the Mets a one-run lead.
Mark Vientos returns in Starling Marte’s absence
The Mets received some good news on Tommy Pham after an MRI on the Mets outfielder’s groin remained stable.
Pham exited Thursday afternoon’s game in the fourth inning after experiencing groin tightness. He had also been removed from the final game before the All-Star break against the Padres.
After the clean MRI, Pham traveled to Boston.
“We were able to have a good comparison from the last (MRI), and it was the same,” Showalter said. “Hopefully we got ahead of it. It just tightened up on him, cramped on him and decided to be on the safe side there.”
The Mets called up infielder Mark Vientos to fill in the gap for Starling Marte, who was placed on the injured list retroactive to July 17 with migraines.
Vientos, who is slashing .307/.386/.614 with 16 home runs, 50 RBI and 36 runs in Triple-A Syracuse, is hoping to make a bigger impact than his first irregular stint in the major leagues this season.
“It’s difficult, yeah, but I feel like it’s just the situation I’m in,” Vientos said. “Now it’s how am I going to be in the situation that’s gonna show who I am as a person. I feel like I’m confident in whatever’s thrown at me. I’m ready for it.”
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NY Mets: Friday night game with Red Sox suspended, resumes Saturday