Mets-Nats suspended, split twin bill Sunday

WASHINGTON -- The Mets and Nationals had the second game of their four-game weekend series suspended on Saturday due to inclement weather. The teams will resume on Sunday as part of a split doubleheader.

The continuation of Saturday’s game will be played on Sunday at 12:35 p.m. ET. Game 2, originally scheduled for 1:35 p.m. ET, will be played at 4:35 p.m. ET.

Tickets and parking passes from Saturday’s game will be honored only for the 12:35 game.

“I’m going to sit here and apologize to the fans because it took a while,” said manager Dave Martinez. “But we wanted to make sure that we got it right, we gave them a chance to try to get the field ready. We just didn’t feel like it was safe for the players. We were all in agreement at that point, and that was it. Sometimes Mother Nature gets the best of you and there’s nothing we can do about it. But we get to come back and play tomorrow and keep everybody safe.”

Umpires suspended play in the top of the third inning with the Nationals leading 1-0 due to inclement weather, which continued for just under four hours before the Nationals Park playing field was deemed unplayable inside the 8 o’clock hour Saturday night. The teams sat through a three-hour, 56-minute rain delay before the decision was made to suspend the game. It will resume with one out, runners on second and third and Brandon Nimmo at the plate.

That was the situation when the rain that fell steadily over Nationals Park intensified Saturday afternoon, rendering the field unplayable. The Mets were on the cusp of their first offensive threat of the day against Nationals starter Trevor Williams, after the Nats provided Williams an early lead with a first-inning run off left-hander Joey Lucchesi. Neither is expected to take the ball when play resumes Sunday.

“We all wanted to play, obviously,” Mets manager Buck Showalter said. “The grounds crew was great trying to get it ready, but there was just so much water.”

The Nationals will determine who will be on the mound when Saturday’s game resumes on Sunday. Righty Jake Irvin, who originally was tabbed for Sunday, will start in Game 2. The Nats will call up right-hander Joan Adon from Triple-A as the 27th man for Game 2 to add length out of the bullpen.

The Mets also have not yet determined who will take the ball in the opener. Max Scherzer will start Game 2, his first start since May 3. Scherzer missed his last scheduled start due to neck spasms.

The Mets are also expected to activate left-handed reliever Brooks Raley from the injured list for Sunday’s finale. New York took the first game of this series, 3-2, on Friday night in the nation’s capital.

“We’ve got [a pitcher for the first game], we just don’t know who it is yet,” Showalter said. “We were all together on [tonight’s decision]. We tried. The grounds crew did everything they thought they could. They tried everything.”