NEW YORK — A chant began in a section high above home plate at Citi Field on Friday night. It lasted a matter of seconds. It sounded more like, and probably was, a plea.
A New York Mets fan had beseeched the baseball gods for a rainout. Six batters in, the Padres and Ryan Schimpf had inflicted exponential pain on the home team's starting pitcher.
The pummeling resumed in the top of the third. Schimpf followed up a grand slam, the first of his career, with a two-run blast. Catcher Christian Bethancourt launched San Diego's fourth home run of the game, and, with that, Mets right-hander Logan Verrett headed for the showers.