Mets, Braves rained out for 2nd straight day, play 2 Monday

NEW YORK -- — The New York Mets and Atlanta Braves were rained out for the second straight day on Sunday.

The game was postponed about 3 1/2 hours before the scheduled first pitch at 1:40 p.m. It will be made up as part of a single-admission doubleheader Monday starting at 1:10 p.m., originally scheduled as one game.

The Braves said Sunday’s scheduled starter, Spencer Strider (3-0, 1.80 ERA), will start Monday’s opener, followed by Charlie Morton (3-2, 2.76 ERA), who already was penciled in as Monday’s probable starter.

Rookie right-hander Denyi Reyes will make his second major league start and first for the Mets in Game 1, with Tylor Megill (3-1, 3.96 ERA) getting the ball in the second game.

Saturday's rainout was rescheduled as part of a day-night doubleheader at Citi Field on Aug. 12. The teams' series opener Friday night was shortened by rain to five innings.

When the NL East rivals finally resume play Monday, the Mets' pitching staff will look much different.

With co-aces Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander poised to return to the rotation this week, rookie right-hander José Butto was optioned to Triple-A Syracuse on Sunday. Butto was 0-1 with a 2.79 ERA in two starts.

That move came one day after struggling lefty David Peterson was optioned to Syracuse as well. Peterson was 1-4 with a 7.34 ERA in six starts.

Neither was part of New York's projected rotation going into spring training, but both have filled in for a depleted unit. Scherzer and Verlander have combined to pitch only 19 1/3 innings this season, but the Mets will enter May with a 15-12 record.

The Mets also placed reliever Brooks Raley on the 15-day injured list with left elbow inflammation Saturday, retroactive to April 28 — leaving the team without a left-hander in the bullpen. Adam Ottavino was reinstated from the paternity list and fellow right-hander John Curtiss was recalled from Syracuse.

Verlander went down just before opening day and has been sidelined all season by a teres major strain in his upper back. He pitched well in a rehab start Friday for Double-A Binghamton and is expected to come off the injured list and make his Mets debut Wednesday or Thursday at Detroit, his original team.

Scherzer is serving a 10-game suspension imposed by Major League Baseball following his ejection for having a foreign substance on his hand while pitching in an April 19 game at Dodger Stadium.

He becomes eligible to return to the mound Tuesday at Detroit, rejoining a Mets rotation that also includes Megill, Kodai Senga and Joey Lucchesi going forward.

Veteran right-hander Carlos Carrasco is sidelined due to right elbow inflammation and a bone spur. Veteran lefty José Quintana is out until at least July following rib surgery.

The slumping Mets have lost five of six. The Braves have won seven of the past eight meetings between the teams dating to last year, including a pivotal three-game sweep in Atlanta near the end of last season that sent them to their fifth straight division title.

Game notes
Mets backup outfielder Tim Locastro (back spasms) began a rehab assignment with Class A St. Lucie.

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