Marlins drop resumed game on bizarre day

NEW YORK -- Four months, 19 days, 23 hours and 55 minutes.

Tuesday afternoon's matchup to open a “doubleheader” between the Marlins and Mets at Citi Field wasn't part of Jordan Peele's "The Twilight Zone" reboot, but it may as well have been.

Miami surrendered five runs in the ninth inning in a 6-5 walk-off loss that defied the space-time continuum. The game began on April 11, but rain halted play after nine pitches. It resumed a Major League-record 142 days later with plenty of quirks along the way.

There was no national anthem, but there was a lengthy meeting at home plate between managers Don Mattingly and Luis Rojas and the umpiring crew to go over lineup cards and ground rules. The crew chief checked pitchers for foreign substances -- a rule that wasn't enacted until June 21. Season totals through Aug. 31 appeared on the jumbotron despite the stats from this opening game affecting April numbers.

Here’s a look at the difference between then and now:

• Three relievers -- Anthony Bass, Richard Bleier and Dylan Floro -- were unable to hold a four-run lead. Bass, whose blown save on a walk-off hit-by-pitch opened the series in April, gave up two runs. Bleier permitted another two with two outs, while Floro was tagged for back-to-back hits to end the game. Jorge Alfaro, the club’s primary backstop until Alex Jackson was acquired, committed a fielding error in left field that allowed Javier Báez, who wasn’t with the Mets in April, to score the winning run from first base.

According to Elias Sports Bureau, Báez became the second player since 1901 with an RBI for multiple teams on the same day, joining Cliff Johnson for the Cubs and Indians on May 28, 1980.

“For the most part, I've been kind of doing it a little bit all year with the eighth, ninth inning,” Floro said of whether the ninth sped up. “You’re watching the game, you know the situation might be coming up, so mentally you're just trying to stay ready. You might warm up a little bit faster than usual, but other than that you're watching the game, you're paying attention, you're seeing it to kind of have a feel for what's coming next.”

• Elieser Hernandez gave up just a solo homer to Jonathan Villar in five innings as the first pitcher to take the mound for the Marlins. John Curtiss was originally slated to open this game in April, but he was dealt to the Brewers at the Trade Deadline. Hernandez was on the injured list with right biceps inflammation at the time.

On Tuesday, Hernandez reached a max velocity of 93.8 mph -- his fastest four-seamer of the season. He turned to his slider 36.1 percent of the time for his second-highest usage.

“I feel well,” Hernandez said via an interpreter. “During the last interview I did with you guys, I mentioned that I feel like my season is starting right now. I feel some improvement, and I feel well physically.”

• Bryan De La Cruz produced an RBI single in a two-run second inning that would technically signify his first knock in The Show. He didn't make his Major League debut until July 30, and he picked up his first MLB hit on Aug. 1. De La Cruz manned center field in place of Starling Marte.

• Jazz Chisholm Jr. went 3-for-5 with an RBI, two doubles and two stolen bases to record an eight-game hit streak from April 10-18. Entering the suspended game, April was the rookie’s best month of the season: He slashed .290/.375/.551 with a .926 OPS.

• Jesús Sánchez, in right field for Adam Duvall, singled in the third inning. Sánchez was rehabbing a groin injury when this game started in April, and he wasn't recalled from Triple-A Jacksonville until June 15.

• Steven Okert pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings, and he was one of eight pitchers on the active roster who were not with the club when this game was first played.

“Obviously, seeing Jorgie hitting first, Alex hitting second, that type of thing, it's not our lineup that we've been playing lately with Jazz up there at the top and [Miguel Rojas],” Mattingly said. “So that part was a little different. Other than that, it probably played out pretty good for us where, Elieser, we had him in a bunt situation, he got the bunt down. I don't think we got the run in, but we did execute the bunt part of it. So it really kind of worked out OK, but it didn't really feel that much different other than just seeing the people in different spots.”