Edwin Diaz implodes in ninth again as Mets lose heartbreaker to Marlins
MIAMI — The Mets have one giant Edwin Diaz headache.
Never mind that the All-Star closer isn’t anything close to peak 2022 form, he’s suddenly become a liability whose trustworthiness to finish games is questionable.
After blowing consecutive save opportunities against the Phillies, the right-hander was given a non-save situation Saturday and proceeded to allow four runs that tied the game before Otto Lopez’s RBI single against Jorge Lopez in the 10th inning buried the Mets in their 10-9 loss to the Marlins at LoanDepot Park.
Josh Bell’s three-run homer to center field against Diaz tied it, 9-9, in the ninth after the Marlins had scored earlier in the inning on Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s RBI single.
Diaz, who got only one out in the inning and allowed four runs on four hits, owns a 5.50 ERA in 18 appearances this season after missing last year to rehab from surgery to repair a torn patellar tendon in his right knee.
Diaz tore the tendon during a celebration on this same field, with Team Puerto Rico at the World Baseball Classic.
After speaking to reporters Saturday, an emotional Diaz fought tears as he was consoled at his locker by Francisco Lindor.
“My confidence is down right now,” Diaz said. “I am making pitches and throwing strikes. I’m trying to do my best to help the team to win and right now I’m not in that capacity.”
The Mets lost their second straight to a team that began the day with MLB’s worst record.
Manager Carlos Mendoza’s next big decision will be whether to keep Diaz in the closer’s role or move an option such as Reed Garrett or Adam Ottavino into that spot.
“It’s one of those where I have got to talk to the coaching staff and have got to talk to Edwin,” Mendoza said. “Whether we want to find him some softer spots to kind of get him going … he is still our closer and he will get through it. He’s too good of a pitcher for him to continue to struggle for a long time.”
Diaz’s previous troubles were with his fastball.
On this day, his slider was “all over the place,” according to Mendoza, who noted that Diaz hit 99 mph with his four-seam fastball.
Bell jumped on a first-pitch slider and hit it 428 feet into the shrubbery behind the center-field fence.
“I thought he didn’t hit it that hard,” Diaz said. “But that ball kept flying.”
Diaz has allowed five homers in 18 innings this season.
Included is one he surrendered Monday to Bryson Stott in the ninth inning before the Mets lost to the Phillies in extra innings.
“When you have one of the best closers in the game going through what he’s going through it comes down to the confidence level,” Mendoza said. “Right now, you can tell he’s putting pressure on himself because he’s not getting results, but we will continue to work with him and get through it.”
On a day Lindor and Brandon Nimmo flip-flopped in the batting order, maybe the most notable performance came from Jeff McNeil, who delivered a rare multiple-hit game and even stole a base for the Mets.
McNeil, stuck in a slump that had pushed his OPS to .614, reached base three times and went 2-for-4 with two RBIs as part of the team’s 15-hit attack.
Every Mets starter had at least one hit except Lindor (0-for-5), who moved to the leadoff spot with Nimmo shifted to third.
McNeil was 3-for-26 (.115) over his previous eight games.
On Saturday, he contributed to scoring rallies in the fourth and fifth innings.
Luis Severino pitched into the seventh inning, getting two outs in that final frame before Reed Garrett replaced him.
Severino allowed five runs on six hits and three walks with three strikeouts on a day he displayed some of his best heat this season, averaging 96.6 mph with his four-seam fastball.
The Marlins chased Severino in the seventh on Lopez’s RBI double and Chisholm’s run-scoring single.
Garrett entered and surrendered two hits, including an RBI single by Bell that sliced the Mets’ lead to 7-5.
J.D. Martinez and Starling Marte each stroked an RBI double in the ninth to give the Mets a four-run cushion that ultimately wasn’t enough for Diaz.
“Usually, we are happy in here and having some fun,” Severino said. “But a game like that, we have to think about what we did and try to be better.”
