NEW YORK _ With rain falling at Citi Field at the start of the game _ and continuing throughout the Mets' 6-4 win against the Phillies _ the Mets scratched Jacob deGrom from his scheduled started Sunday, going with rookie Corey Oswalt instead.
Manager Mickey Callaway warned hours prior to first pitch that with consistent rain expected the Mets might make a late switch. They didn't want to risk wasting deGrom on a potentially rain-shortened start if they were unsure about the forecast.
"If it starts looking kind of hairy, we have other options," Callaway said. "We have Oswalt, we have (Drew) Gagnon. Those guys are full rested and if we have to start somebody else, we wouldn't hesitate to do so because we wouldn't want Jacob to throw two innings and get rained out. There is a lot of rain coming throughout the rest of the day as well, so we would just need to monitor the conditions and kind of go from there."
If deGrom starts Monday against the Marlins, being pushed back a day won't affect how many starts he makes the rest of the season as he chases the NL Cy Young Award. He can still have five more outings: Monday vs. Miami, Saturday at Boston, Sept. 20 at Washington, Sept. 25 vs. Atlanta and Sept. 30 vs. Miami.
Rain is also expected all day Monday.
Of Oswalt's nine major-league starts, this was his second in place of deGrom on short notice. He also got the ball June 29 in Miami when deGrom had to address a family issue.
This time, Oswalt tossed three innings and allowed two runs on Rhys Hoskins' first-inning homer. Gagnon followed with two scoreless frames in the de facto bullpen day as the teams played through a drizzle.
The game turned in the fifth, when Jeff McNeil had an RBI single to tie it and Michael Conforto (2-for-5) smacked a three-run home run to give the Mets a 5-2 lead.
McNeil had three hits for the second game in a row and for the fifth time in 44 career games.
Four Mets relievers _ Gagnon, Eric Hanhold, Drew Smith and Seth Lugo (save) _ allowed two hits and two runs in six innings.
