Marlins’ rally in 9th halted by rain as finale vs. Mets suspended

5:32 AM UTC

NEW YORK — The Marlins rallied late against the Mets, but their comeback was halted as Thursday night’s series finale was suspended with two outs in the top of the ninth due to rain at Citi Field. Miami was leading, 2-1, after scoring two runs in the frame.

The game is scheduled to be resumed on Monday at 1:10 p.m. ET at Citi Field.

According to Rule 7.02 (a)(5):
A suspended game shall be resumed and completed as follows:
Weather, if the game is called before it is a regulation game, or if a regulation game is called while an inning is in progress and before the inning is completed, and the visiting team has scored one or more runs to take the lead, and the home team has not retaken the lead.

Games remaining: at PIT (3), at NYM (1)
Standings update: The Marlins (82-76) sit a half-game ahead of the Cubs (82-77) for the third NL Wild Card spot, and remained 1 1/2 games ahead of the Reds (81-78). The Marlins are 1 1/2 games behind the D-backs (84-75) for the second NL WC spot. Miami holds the head-to-head tiebreaker over Chicago and Arizona, having taken four of six in the season series. Miami tied the season series (3-3) with Cincinnati, but the Marlins (26-25 against the NL East) hold the second tiebreaker — intradivisional record — over the Reds (20-29 against the NL Central).

Prior to the decision, which came three hours and eight minutes after crew chief Alfonso Marquez called for the stoppage in play, the grounds crew took the tarp off the infield — at one point aided by Marlins manager Skip Schumaker. They waited in left field while general manager Kim Ng spoke with officials over the phone and in person. The tarp was placed back on the infield before the suspension was announced.

Ng was asked a series of questions regarding the suspension:

What was explained out there about the decision to suspend it?
“Without getting into the details, obviously this is an unfortunate incident right now,” Ng said. 

Was everything done that should have been in order to avoid this happening?
“I don’t really want to get into details at this point,” Ng said.

Will it definitely be finished Monday regardless of the standings?
“Probably have to talk to the Commissioner’s Office tomorrow to find out what exactly is going to happen,” Ng said.

The Marlins are scheduled to play three games in Pittsburgh this weekend with their magic number at three to clinch a postseason berth. Miami might have to return to Queens on Monday to finish Thursday’s game should the NL Wild Card spots not be decided by then. The NL Wild Card Series with the sixth seed is scheduled to begin on Tuesday in Milwaukee against the No. 3 seed Brewers.

Trailing 1-0 in the ninth, Bryan De La Cruz led off with a single before Garrett Hampson struck out against righty Grant Hartwig. Southpaw Anthony Kay entered to face left-handed-hitting Jazz Chisholm Jr. and threw a wild pitch that advanced De La Cruz to second. As rain fell harder, Chisholm lined a game-tying RBI double off the left-field wall and pinch-hitter Yuli Gurriel followed with the go-ahead RBI single to left. Xavier Edwards flied out and Jon Berti singled against Reed Garrett before the umpiring crew called for the tarp.

In a scoreless ballgame in the eighth, Brett Baty opened the frame with a single and moved to second on Tim Locastro’s sacrifice bunt to chase Jesús Luzardo at 100 pitches. Lefty Andrew Nardi then surrendered an RBI single to left to former Marlin Rafael Ortega, who had taken over for Brandon Nimmo in the fifth.

Luzardo’s 208 strikeouts are a single-season record for a southpaw in franchise history, and third overall behind José Fernández (253) and Ryan Dempster (209).

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