NEW YORK (AP) - The last round of this year’s Subway Series has been delayed.
The season finale between the New York Mets and New York Yankees was postponed because of rain Sunday night and will be made up on Aug. 13 at 7:05 p.m., previously an off day for both teams.
The Yankees will be in the middle of a long homestand anyway, although the makeup game means they’ll now play 20 days in a row during that stretch. The Mets, meanwhile, will make a one-game pit stop in the Bronx between trips to Miami and Baltimore on a lengthy road swing that ends in Philadelphia.
With steady rain falling, a tarp covered the infield all evening and play never began. The game was called about an hour after the scheduled 8:05 p.m. start.
It was the 42nd postponement in the majors this year, already more than all of last season.
Mets ace Jacob deGrom (5-4), who leads the majors with a 1.68 ERA, had been slated to pitch against Yankees right-hander Masahiro Tanaka (7-2, 4.54). But thanks to the bad weather, Aaron Judge and the Bronx Bombers were spared the task of facing deGrom, who is 0-2 with an 8.03 ERA in two career starts at Yankee Stadium.
“He’s a tough customer, obviously. A great pitcher,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “Look, any time we take the field we feel like we have a real good chance no matter who’s out there, especially at home. So you don’t like stacking up these doubleheaders and now a makeup game and those type of things. But obviously, tonight was a tough matchup for sure.”
Boone said All-Star righty Luis Severino will stay on his regular turn Monday night at Tampa Bay, with Tanaka going Tuesday. Severino had already traveled down to Florida ahead of the team to get a normal night’s sleep.
Veteran left-hander CC Sabathia will be pushed back from Tuesday to Friday, when he will pitch at home against lowly Kansas City on his bobblehead night.
“I think it will be fun,” Sabathia said. “My mom’s excited about it, my grandmother’s excited. So I think it will be good.”
Sabathia turned 38 on Saturday and the Yankees wanted to take the opportunity to give him extra rest.
“It really benefits him,” Boone said. “Just with his knee and maintenance.”
Sabathia gets lubricant injections to help alleviate discomfort in his troublesome knee. He received one right before the All-Star break and said he thought it was his third one this season.
“The more time I can give that thing and just let the medicine move around, it will react better,” Sabathia said. “Any time you get a chance to get some rest, I think it’s key - especially for me at this point in the season. I’m welcoming the rest for sure.”
The second-place Yankees (63-34) are five games behind major league-leading Boston in the AL East, three in the loss column.
Sabathia said it would be “shocking” if they don’t make a deal before the July 31 trade deadline.
“We always do something,” he explained. “But I think we have the guys in there if they don’t do anything to get it done.”
Last in the NL East, the Mets rescheduled deGrom for Monday night at home against San Diego. Zack Wheeler had originally been slated to start that game.
The crosstown rivals split two games over the weekend, giving the Yankees a 3-2 lead in their six-game season series.
ROSTER MOVE
The Yankees recalled RHP Giovanny Gallegos from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Mets: 3B Todd Frazier (strained left rib cage muscle) is hitting off a tee and could begin “more intense baseball activities” in the next few days if all goes well, manager Mickey Callaway said. … RF Jay Bruce (right hip) is feeling better and might start baseball activities in the next couple of days, according to Callaway.
Yankees: Rookie 2B Gleyber Torres, sidelined since straining his right hip on July 4, is expected to play rehab games Monday and Tuesday at Class A Tampa before rejoining the Yankees on Wednesday at Tampa Bay.
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