ATLANTA _ For the second time in five days, umpires summoned the tarp then quickly changed their minds during a Mets game.
The big difference on Monday was that the Mets couldn't do to the Braves what the Cardinals did to them last week. The rain fell, then lightened, then stopped, and the game resumed at SunTrust Park, but New York couldn't use the 15-minute delay to swing the momentum. The Mets, who were down two when the hiatus began, were blown out, 12-3, by the first-place Braves to begin a crucial road trip.
New York is now 8 { back of Braves with two more to play here this week. There are no days off on this three-city road trip, which means the Mets don't have much time to regroup if things spiral. And to make things worse for New York, Atlanta has now won 10 of its last 11 and doesn't appear to be losing any steam.
This game got out of hand in the bottom of the seventh, and it began with Jeurys Familia. He got an out, but then loaded the bases on a single and two walks, marking yet another poor outing from a guy the Mets say they will continue to trust.
Drew Gagnon was summoned to clean up to the mess, but he allowed all three inherited runners to score _ two via an Ozzie Albies single, another on a Ronald Acuna Jr. single. Then he walked in another man. When the inning ended, the Mets trailed by six, basically sealing this one.
But if that weren't enough, Brian McCann and Albies offered one last kick to the gut when they went back-to-back off Gagnon in the eighth to make it 12-3 Braves.
It was sunny in "Hotlanta" for most of the day, but a dark cloud appeared early in the game. It began off in the distance but slowly moved in until it covered the ballpark. There were a couple lightning strikes and thunder booms. Rain seemed inevitable.
Zack Wheeler flared a game-tying single into the outfield in the top of the fifth inning, and it perhaps allowed the Mets to breathe. If it rains too hard to continue playing, MLB games can be considered "official" if a trailing visiting team has made 15 outs.
Momentarily, the Mets had avoided that fate. Little did they know the dark cloud would foreshadow the rest of their night.
Then the Braves came out and scored three runs off Wheeler in the bottom half to put the pressure back on New York. Wheeler walked the leadoff man and, eventually, Nick Markakis a two-run single into the outfielder. Ozzie Albies smoked a seeing-eye single past Amed Rosario moments later.
Robinson Cano homered in the sixth, but the Mets still trailed by two after his solo shot. After New York was retired in that frame, the rain fell and the umpires stopped the game. Fans booed once it appeared to stop raining, then they cheered when it appeared their gripes were heard and the tarp was being pulled off the field.
While decision-makers discussed what to do, one fan provided a few seconds of rain-delay entertainment when he ran onto the field. The fun lasted until security pummeled him behind second base on the edge of the outfield grass.
At 9:15 p.m., the game resumed. Last Thursday, the Cardinals came out of a very, very brief delay and tied the game, which caused it to be suspended until the next day. St. Louis won about 20 hours later.
On Monday, the good news for the Mets was that the rain stopped.
The bad news was that New York could not muster anything. They lost this series opener after dropping three of four at home to St. Louis. They are 34-38 and looking for sources of optimism, especially because starting pitcher Noah Syndergaard just went on the disabled list with a low-grade hamstring strain.
Before the dark cloud even came into focus on Monday, Wheeler got off to an ominous start. Acuna, Atlanta's leadoff hitter, blasted the fifth pitch of the game into the seats, meaning Wheeler has now allowed as many home runs (14) this season as he did all of last year. What was not Wheeler's mistake was a fielding error by Pete Alonso that allowed another run to score in that inning.
After the dark cloud emptied, the Braves unloaded on the Mets and showed why they're in first place.
