The Red Sox-Mets game is halted as Boston’s Fenway Park is swamped by thunderstorms as fans turn the hall into a Slip ‘N Slide during the rain delay
- Friday’s game continues Saturday, with the Mets leading 4-3 in the fourth inning
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Fenway, Major League Baseball’s oldest ballpark, was turned into a Slip ‘N Slide Friday night when the game between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Mets was halted in the fourth inning due to rain.
Boston worshipers were seen jumping through the flooded arena while Red Sox hitter Justin Turner navigated 12 inches of standing water with a garbage bag covering each of his legs.
“I thought we could have played it through,” Turner later joked on social media.
Many fans seemed to welcome the deluge, which began with some showers in the early evening before thunderstorms rolled across eastern Massachusetts.
The game is scheduled to resume at 2:10 p.m. Saturday, with the Mets leading 4-3 by the end of the fourth quarter.
Fenway’s stairs (left) and tunnels were quickly flooded on Friday, Justin Turner (right) learned
Puddles of water in the warning lane at the foot of the manual scoreboard in left field at Fenway
The Mets closed a three-run deficit on two run homers by Brandon Nimmo and Daniel Vogelbach and had an out and a 2-1 count against Alex Verdugo at 8:20 p.m. when the umpires called for the tarp as it began to rain at Fenway Park.
About 90 minutes later, until 12:45 a.m., the National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning for the Boston area. The rain had abated briefly, but picked up again vigorously about an hour and 40 minutes into the delay.
“Just as they said there might be a window (if the rain would let up), we heard a pop, crackle, pop,” said Mets manager Buck Showalter.
Showalter ruled that starter Kodai Senga would not return about 50 minutes into the delay.
“We got to a point where Kodai was done.” …We had plans to restart,” Showalter said. “We’ll see if it will be the same.”
Just under two hours into the delay, the game was declared an “interrupted game”. It resumes on Saturday at 2:10 p.m. and the regular 4:10 game has been moved to 7:10 p.m.
One fan couldn’t help but turn Fenway Hall into a Slip ‘N Slide on Friday night
Fenway Park is toured after the game was suspended against the Mets on Day 3
Fans wait for a rain delay during Friday’s fourth inning at Fenway Park in Boston
After the ground crew put the tarpaulin in place, very heavy rain, strong winds and lightning hit the area, with the rain forming large puddles along the track around the park. Fans were asked to move under a cover and security guards guarding the pitch were housed under a cover.
Nimmo hit a home run into the Mets’ bullpen in the third, his 15th, and Vogelbach went over the New York pen for a sixth time an inning later.
As Vogelbach slowly circled the bases, a male fan in the Mets jersey celebrated with the ball, which he grabbed with a gloved hand from the front row.
The Red Sox had extended their lead against Senga with one run in run one and two in run two after Yu Chang hit a two-run double against the Green Monster.
“I thought at first he was trapped, he might be outside,” Senga said through a translator. “But then I thought we were in Fenway, I wasn’t sure what was going to happen.”