Mets-Phillies postponed; doubleheader in August

PHILADELPHIA — The game between the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies scheduled for Friday night was postponed because of rain in the forecast and will be made up Aug. 20 as part of a splitadmission doubleheader.

The opener will begin at 1:05 p.m., with the originally scheduled game still set for 7:15 p.m.

Max Scherzer (4-0, 2.61 ERA) had been slated to pitch for the first-place Mets, who stunned Philadelphia by rallying for seven runs in the ninth inning of an 8-7 victory in the series opener Thursday night.

Kyle Gibson (2-1, 2.93) was lined up to start for the Phillies, who have lost five of six.

The game was called off more than six hours before it was supposed to begin. It was the third major league game on Friday’s slate postponed early in the day because of inclement weather, including Dodgers-Cubs in Chicago and Rangers-Yankees in New York.

Scherzer beat the Phillies on Sunday night at Citi Field, striking out nine in six innings. The three-time Cy Young Award winner is 15-0 — the longest winning streak of his career — in his last 24 regular-season starts since losing 3-0 to Milwaukee on May 30, 2021, with the Washington Nationals, who traded him to the Los Angeles Dodgers in late July.

Scherzer’s teams have won each of his past 18 regular-season starts. He did drop a 1-0 decision to San Francisco in last year’s playoffs with the Dodgers.

New York is 5-2 against Philadelphia this season, and the NL East rivals are still scheduled to play each other five more times before the end of May.