The Fenway Park grounds crews pulls out a tarp during a rain delay in the fourth inning of the Red Sox’s game against the Mets on Friday in Boston. Michael Dwyer/Associated Press
BOSTON — The game between the Boston Red Sox and New York was suspended in the bottom of the fourth inning with the Mets leading 4-3 on Friday night.
The Mets erased a three-run deficit on two-run homers by Brandon Nimmo and Daniel Vogelbach and had one out and a 1-2 count on Alex Verdugo at 8:20 p.m. when the umpires called for the tarp as the rain picked up.
About 90 minutes later, the National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning for the Boston area until 12:45 a.m. The rain had let up briefly but picked up with force again about 1 hour, 40 minutes into the delay.
It was declared a “suspended game” just under 2 hours after the delay started. It will be resumed Saturday at 2:10 p.m. and the regularly scheduled 4:10 game was moved to 7:10.
Once the grounds crew got the tarp in place, very heavy rain, strong winds and lightning moved into the area, with the rain forming large puddles all along the track around the park. Fans were asked to move underneath covering and security ringing the field was moved under cover.
Nimmo homered into the Mets bullpen in the third, his 15th, and Vogelbach’s went over New York’s pen for his sixth an inning later.
As Vogelbach slowly circled the bases, a male fan wearing a Mets’ jersey celebrated with the ball that he snagged wearing a glove in the first row.
The Sox had opened their lead against Kodai Senga with a run in the first and two in the second on a two-run double by Yu Chang.
EVEN THOUGH THIS this is the only series the Red Sox will play against the Mets this season, Boston Manager Alex Cora was already plenty familiar with Friday’s opponent.
His older brother Joey is the Mets’ third base coach and the two siblings follow each other’s team closely. Being in different leagues allows them to root for each other without consequence 159 games out of the season.
The challenge of course is for Iris Amaro, the matriarch of the Cora baseball family. Amaro, as well as several family members and friends from all over descended on Boston for the three-game series that started Friday night.
Who does Mom root for?
Either she roots for the Red Sox or she’s effectively convinced her younger son that she does.
“She roots for Red Sox,” Alex Cora answered teasing his brother through the media. “I’m the manager and he’s a coach. I pay for all the plane tickets.”
Joking aside, the timing of the game worked out well. Alex Cora’s twin sons Xander and Islander turned 6 on Friday so the family visitors got a birthday party as well as a baseball series.
“It is cool to have them here. My mom is here. My sisters. My nephews.” Alex Cora said. “We’ve got everybody. A lot of friends.
“We have a lot of people in the house. It’s very similar to 2018,” said Cora, who hosted a similar collection of relatives when the Red Sox were in the 2018 World Series. “There are air mattresses all over the place. It’s always good to have Mom here. With all respect to Angelica (his wife), the beans are old-fashioned with Mom. We like that.”
Joey Cora, 58, played 11 seasons in the majors. He’s been either a Major League coach or a minor league manager since 2004. He’s in his second season with the Mets. Alex Cora looked up to him when they were both players and still relies on his counsel as in their respective bench roles.
“Getting to catch up with him in person means a lot. … I lost my dad when I was 13. He became that guy. I know he cares about us. Of course, he wants to beat us this weekend,” Cora said. “I know managers who call ex-managers for advice in certain situations. I’ve got my brother. ‘What do you think about this?’ and ‘How should we handle this?’ He’s really good at what he does. He helps me out.”
He thinks Joey Cora would have been a great manager himself if someone had given him a chance.
“For some reason, he didn’t get a job as a manager. I would have thought he was the perfect guy,” he said. “He has the mix of baseball savvy and education. He went to Vanderbilt and paid his dues. He’s a very smart guy.”
AGAINST METS star rookie right-hander Kodai Senga on Friday night, Alex Cora sacrificed a little defense to get as many potent bats as possible in the lineup.
For the second straight Friday night, Justin Turner started at second base for Boston. Jarren Duran (left field), Adam Duvall (center field), Alex Verdugo (right field) and Masataka Yoshida (designated hitter) also started. Cora wanted to make sure he had a good offense against Senga, who has a 3.20 ERA this season.
“I just wanted the best offense out there today…,” Cora said. “We’ve got three righties this weekend and I think, offensively, this is our best lineup.”
The Red Sox are experimenting, about once a week, with Turner at second base, which allows Triston Casas to start at first and an outfielder, like Yoshida, to DH. Verdugo hit sixth behind Duvall, like he has for most of July. Verdugo was one of Boston’s most consistent offensive players in the first half of the season but has struggled this month; he entered Friday with a .146 average and .528 OPS in 13 July games. His average has fallen from .301 to .280.
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