Edwin Diaz’s 2024 season has been one of extreme highs and extreme lows, but there’s no denying the Mets closer has tremendous talent in his arm, and the organization trusts him even in the biggest moments.
Wednesday night’s NLDS clincher against the Phillies is the biggest of Diaz’s Mets career, so far, and he was up for the task.
With a 4-1 lead, Diaz walked two batters to lead off the ninth inning which summoned pitching coach Jeremy Hefner and the infielders to calm the Mets closer down. Diaz revealed that was the turning point for him.
“First I was trying to hit the corners instead of going after the hitters,” Diaz explained to SNY’s Steve Gelbs after the game. “When the pitching coach and the guys came to me they said ‘Your fastball looks great today. Just throw it down the middle, they don’t have a chance it has a lot of life.’ That’s what I did, throwing a fastball right down the middle.”
Diaz would get Kody Clemens to strike out swinging on five pitches, punctuated by a 98.7 mph heater. Brandon Marsh followed by flying out a 99.2 mph fastball to get the second out. And then Kyle Schwarber came to the plate as the tying run.
Diaz threw three straight sliders to the slugging left-hander to get ahead in the count, 1-2. He then reared back and threw a fastball right by Schwarber, clocking in at 101.1 mph to lock down the save and send the Mets to the NLCS.
Going to Diaz for the ninth inning was a move manager Carlos Mendoza would have been scorched for if it didn’t work out, especially considering how relatively easy David Peterson got through the Phillies lineup in his 2.1 scoreless innings of work and how Diaz pitches in his last outing.
Sunday in Philadelphia, Diaz allowed three runs in 0.2 innings. That blown save ultimately led to a Mets loss but the 30-year-old said getting another chance meant a lot to him.
“On Sunday I didn’t have my best stuff in Philly. We got the loss,” he said. “I stick with that in my mind and wanted to get the chance again to finish them up. That’s what I did today.”
“It was always going to be Diaz. He’s the best in the league,” Mendoza said after the game. “Once Petey got through the eighth it was Diaz’s game. I had no doubt. Even after the two walks, I knew he was going to get it done. And he did, here we are celebrating.”
The Mets will need Diaz to be at his best when they take on the winner of the Padres-Dodgers series in the NLCS. If Diaz can be consistently dominant like he’s been for much of his Mets tenure, then New York has a really great shot at getting back to the World Series for the first time since 2015.
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