Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
While the Mets west coast road trip had its share of ups and downs, the fanbase seemed to believe that going 5-5 would be a moral victory.
Because of Edwin Díaz, the Mets had no sweat reaching that elusive fifth win in California. In an epic five-out save, Díaz put together one of – if not the best- performances of his time with the Metropolitans.
Handed the ball with one out in the eighth inning, Díaz entered the game with one runner on first, coming into the ballgame in relief of Seth Lugo. In the biggest at-bat of the night to that point, Díaz struck out future Hall of Famer Mike Trout swinging. After walking another former All-Star in Anthony Rendon, Díaz ended the inning with a huge out – another strikeout – of slugger Jared Walsh.
“I’ve faced him before, I know how to pitch him,” Díaz said after the game about the battle against Trout. “I got a good result against him, and today I did my job.”
The ninth inning was nothing but electric for the hopeful 2022 All-Star. Díaz struck out all three batters he faced in the final frame, retiring Matt Duffy, Juan Lagares, and Kurt Suzuki in order. Díaz reached a peak velocity of 101.6 miles per hour in the inning, including the final strike on Suzuki registering at a ridiculous 101 mph to end the game.
Throwing both his four-seam fastball and slider 14 times apiece, Díaz was a master at getting opposing batters to swing. On those two pitches, he recorded whiff rates of 71% and 50%, respectively.
After a 57-save season with the Mariners in 2018, Díaz entered 2019 with lofty expectations. A 5.59 ERA later in his first season in New York and Díaz had apparently already entered his name in the log book of failed trades in Mets history.
But his story was far from over. Since then, Díaz has a 2.77 ERA (149 ERA+) in 114 appearances for the Mets. Aside from some rocky ninth innings in 2019 – even a couple this year as well – Díaz is cementing himself as one of the best closers in baseball yet again. Sunday’s brilliant outing on national television was the perfect showcase of what “Sugar” brings to this team.
And his team has all the confidence in him. That certainly will help a pitcher out.
On bringing in Díaz to face the powerful Trout, Buck Showalter kept his praise simple.
“It was their best against ours.”
