NEW YORK _ The tarp was on, then off. After a nine-minute rain delay, closer Edwin Diaz toed the rubber with a two-run Mets lead as he looked to slam the door and send everyone home.
Boos eventually rained down, along with the water, once Diaz blew it. That was the last the teams would play. The game was suspended because of rain and will be picked up at 6:10 p.m. on Friday.
Kolten Wong singled home Marcell Ozuna, who led off the top of the ninth with a walk. Moments later, Harrison Bader laced a ball down the left field line and when the throw came in, Amed Rosario couldn't handle it on the wet surface. A run scored. Tie game.
Bader couldn't catch his footing running around second and the Mets were able to tag him out as he tried to scamper back. Still, the damage was done.
When the teams walked off the field to begin readying for the bottom half, the tarp returned and the umpires called the second rain delay.
It began raining hard here around the eighth. The infield was shiny and the grass soggy. As the game headed to the bottom of the ninth, the tarp came out ... then was immediately rolled back up. The grounds crew did work on the infield, which was not in great shape.
There was no word as to why the tarp was taken off the field. However, according to the SNY broadcast, it appeared Pete Alonso and others protested the tarp coming onto the field. They just wanted to finish the game.
The game was first suspended at 9:54. The umpires quickly changed their minds, and Ozuna stepped into the batter's box and play resumed at 9:54 p.m.
Maybe it would have been better for the Mets if they left the tarp on before the ninth began?
Before Diaz choked, the Mets were about to reach .500 for the first time since May 26, when they were 26-26.
The Mets need to take care of business against the Cardinals at home this weekend because the road trip that lies ahead looks to be plenty difficult.
The Mets begin next week with three against the first-place Braves (40-29 as of Thursday). Then they play four against the Cubs, a team that should contend come October, before meeting the second-place Phillies for four more.
On Thursday, Jacob deGrom tossed another deGrom-like outing. He allowed two runs and went seven innings, which was important because it would have helped preserve a bullpen if Diaz had done his job. Thursday marked the 33rd time that deGrom has allowed two or fewer runs since the start of last season.
DeGrom's lone mistake came in the sixth, when Paul DeJong homered to tie the game at 2. But unlike some other deGrom starts this season, the Mets' bats picked up their ace.
In the bottom half of the sixth, Dominic Smith singled home Alonso, who doubled. Amed Rosario's sacrifice fly gave the Mets a two-run lead.
Another positive was Michael Conforto, who blasted an early two-run home run off Cardinals starter Jack Flaherty. Conforto entered the game hitting .300 over his last eight.
Conforto told NorthJersey.com before the game that he tweaked his timing a bit against the Giants last week. He didn't change his swing, but a minor adjustment to how he loaded made all the difference.
"I think any time things aren't going the way you want them to, you kind of look back to the times that you were doing well," Conforto said. "Baseball is crazy in the way that, you're out there every day and the smallest little changes can happen over the course of your at-bats, pitch to pitch. It happens so slowly and, all of the sudden, you're in a different place than you were before."
