Mets' Stroman calls decision to start game in rain 'not smart at all'

New York Mets right-hander Marcus Stroman wasn't pleased with how Sunday's game against the Miami Marlins was handled after being forced to make his start despite steady rain falling.

Stroman threw seven pitches to Corey Dickerson and Starling Marte before shaking his head prior to an at-bat against Jesus Aguilar.

Aguilar looked unsure about hitting in the rough conditions and took a lot of time to step into the batter's box against Stroman, who appeared to have a hard time gripping the baseball.

The Mets pitcher attempted to change his delivery and shorten his stride before throwing two pitches, one bouncing in the dirt, to Aguilar.

Umpires wound up delaying the game after Stroman threw away multiple wet balls. The contest had only been played for seven minutes.

Sunday's game started even though weather reports showed rain would occur throughout the day.

"We had a few meetings in the morning. We were always aware about how the weather was going to be today," Mets manager Luis Rojas said, according to MLB.com's Anthony DiComo.

"We have a meeting room here in the building where we see forecasts, and we talked to exclusive forecast experts as well. And that leads to the decision. Knowing that the forecast was telling us that we were going to get lighter rain to mist-like type rain and that we could get the game in started on time, it led to the decision to go for it."

The home team, the Mets in this case, are responsible for deciding if a contest should begin. Once the game starts, umpires are in charge of delaying it due to bad weather.

The game was eventually suspended and will resume as part of a split doubleheader on Aug. 31.