NEW YORK (AP) — Marcus Stroman was unhappy that the New York Mets began Sunday’s game against the Miami Marlins in a steady rain, and he lasted just nine pitches before play was stopped.

Play began at 1:10 p.m. and was halted by plate umpire D.J. Reyburn after seven minutes. The game was suspended after a wait of 2 hours, 10 minutes and will be continued as part of a day-night doubleheader on Aug. 31.

Home teams decide whether to start games. Once a game has begun, umpires decide whether to stop play because of bad weather.

Stroman tweeted during the rain delay to express his displeasure.

“This game should have never been started. Not smart at all,” Stroman tweeted. “Those conditions put everyone at risk. Beyond happy no players on either side were injured. Hate that I have to wait another 5 days to pitch again. That’s a miserable feeling.”

While Mets manager Luis Rojas started Stroman, Miami manager Don Mattingly opted to use reliever John Curtiss as an opener. Curtiss never reached the mound.

“We don’t know quite where we’re going to end up with this weather. They’ve opened the gate, so they obviously are going to try to play,” Mattingly said about 1 hour, 20 minutes before the start. “But the weather is still kind of up in the air so, yeah, I just felt like it (using a reliever) was the safest way for us to go.”

Just two players batted. Corey Dickerson singled and Starling Marte flied out.

Stroman worked deliberately in the rain, throwing out wet balls, and he twice forced Reyburn to get new sets of baseballs.

There were about 1,000 fans in the seats when the game began, and by the time Jesús Aguilar walked up to the batter’s box, the infield dirt was shiny and slick from water. The game was stopped after a pair of splitters in the dirt left a 2-0 count on Aguilar.

MOVING DOWN

Michael Conforto was dropped from third to sixth in the batting order by manager Luis Rojas. Entering his last season before becoming eligible for free agency, Conforto is off to a 3 for 21 (.143) start with no homers and three RBIs.

MARLINS MOVES

LHP Daniel Castano was recalled from the alternate training site, and OF Lewis Brinson was optioned there.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Marlins: C Jorge Alfaro (left hamstring) has not played since Tuesday and Miami hopes he can play Monday.

Mets: 1B J.D. Davis (bruised left hand from hit by pitch Tuesday) still has discomfort while swinging.

UP NEXT

Marlins: RHP Sandy Alcantara (0-1) opens a series at Atlanta, which starts RHP Huascar Ynoa (0-0).

Mets: LHP David Peterson (0-1) starts for the Mets in a series opener against Philadelphia and RHP Chase Anderson (0-1).

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More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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