Less than 24 hours later, it didn’t get any better for Edwin Diaz.
After blowing a two-run lead in the top of the ninth inning Thursday night in a game that was subsequently suspended, the Mets’ closer doubled down on the damage and gave up the go-ahead run in the top of the 10th after play resumed Friday for a 5-4 loss to the Cardinals.
“[Thursday] night was just a bad night,” Diaz said after he was unavailable to pitch in the second game, when the Mets bullpen blew another late lead in a 9-5 loss. “Today I was making the pitches I wanted, I was executing the pitches, but they got those hits and they scored the winning run.”
Diaz threw 20 pitches Thursday night and manager Mickey Callaway went right back to him for the top of the 10th on Friday after the Mets were retired in order in the bottom of the ninth upon the game’s resumption. He allowed a leadoff single to Yairo Munoz, who stole second and took third on a groundout to first base. Mets killer Paul DeJong then came up and hit a grounder through the left side to score Munoz to put the Cardinals ahead 5-4.
The latest loss pushed Diaz’s record to 1-4 to go with his third blown save in 17 chances. His ERA is now 3.58.
On Thursday, Diaz entered for the ninth with the rain coming down. The grounds crew began to pull the tarp onto the field before crew chief Jeff Kellogg changed course and ordered for them to dry the infield with dirt. It resulted in a nine-minute delay with Diaz just standing around.
Once the field work was over, Diaz walked Marcell Ozuna, who later took second on a groundout and scored on Kolten Wong’s single. Harrison Bader then ripped a double to left field that scored Wong to tie the game at four. Bader was thrown out at third on the play, and after that the tarp was finally put on the field and the game suspended.
“I don’t blame anything,” Diaz said of the delay. “I compete every day. I’m not here to make excuses. I give my 100 percent every day.”
It was the latest meltdown for the Mets bullpen, which entered the season with high expectations, but now has 16 blown saves, the most in the MLB.
“We’re still working every day,” said Diaz, who blew only four saves all of last year before coming over to the Mets as part of general manager Brodie Van Wagenen’s offseason blockbuster. “It hasn’t come out the way we wanted, but the expectations are still really high for the rest of the season.”