NEW YORK _ Perhaps the Mets should just sit around the clubhouse for five and a half hours the next time they find themselves in an offensive slump.
After a 335-minute delay, the Mets clobbered the Marlins, 13-0 on Wednesday night at Citi Field. The teams had been scheduled to play a doubleheader with the first game set for 4:10 p.m., but they instead will now play two games Thursday.
Jay Bruce, Amed Rosario and Dom Smith homered, and Zack Wheeler (11-7) threw eight scoreless innings.
The two teams arrived to Citi Field expecting a long day with two games on tap, but they had no idea there would be so much waiting.
With a bad forecast looming, the tarp came out before the scheduled 4:10 first pitch, and stayed out there for hours. While steady rain fell for several hours, it seemed the teams could have played. Instead, they stayed inside and waited.
Zack Wheeler finally threw the game's first pitch at 9:45 p.m., and it became clear that the Marlins were the ones affected by the delay.
As the Marlins played a sloppy brand of baseball, the Mets looked sharp and walloped Miami's pitchers. Rosario hit a three-run homer in the fourth off Trevor Richards to give the Mets a 6-0 lead, and Bruce's grand slam in the sixth pushed the edge to 11-0.
Smith added a two-run homer later that inning to put the Mets ahead, 13-0. Each Mets (66-78) starter recorded at least one hit, and five batters drove in at least one run.
While the hitters feasted, Wheeler dominated the Marlins, working efficiently while encountering little resistance.
He allowed one hit through the first six innings while only throwing 57 pitches, and needed only 89 pitches to complete his eight innings.
The Marlins loaded the bases with one out in the seventh inning before Wheeler induced an inning-ending grounder from Lewis Brinson.
