The Mets had an opportunity on Wednesday night against the Dodgers to move over the .500 mark for the first time since May 2 with Edwin Diaz on the hill in the ninth inning with a three-run lead. It was a good plan, but ended it what Diaz called “Easily the worst day of my career.”
Joc Pederson and Max Muncy greeted Diaz with back-to-back homers to cut the Mets’ lead to 8-7 with none out. Back-to-back doubles by former Met Justin Turner and Cody Bellinger tied the game at 8-8, with still nobody out.
Diaz intentionally walked Corey Seager then allowed a single to Matt Beaty to load the bases with nobody out in a tie game. Alex Verdugo hit a sac fly to cap a stunning walk-off loss for the Mets.
The Mets traded stud outfield prospect Jarred Kelenic, right-handed pitching prospects Justin Dunn and Gerson Bautista, veteran righty Anthony Swarzak and Jay Bruce to the Mariners in the offseason for Diaz and Robinson Cano.
Coming into Wednesday night, Diaz had a 1.64 ERA with 35 strikeouts and 13 saves in 22 innings for the Mets. The right-hander has now been used in 7 of the Mets’ last 10 games and warmed up in at least one other. The bad outing ballooned his ERA up to 3.22 and he’s already allowed as many homers this year (5) in 22.1 innings as he did last year in 73.1 innings.
Robert Gsellman and Jeurys Familia each allowed a run in their inning of work as well, the Mets bullpen is missing Seth Lugo big-time right now.
