PHILADELPHIA — In a lineup that feasts on fastballs, Philadelphia Phillies second baseman Bryson Stott stands out as an outlier who struggles against velocity.
Yet in the eighth inning of Game 2 of the National League Division Series, New York Mets closer Edwin Díaz served Stott a slew of sliders. It’s likely that others in a Mets uniform preferred fastballs, especially given the situation: New York up one run, two on base, one out, 1-1 count after a pair of 99 mph heaters. Instead, Stott saw four straight sliders. The final one caught too much of the plate, and Stott hit it for a two-run triple.
From there, the Mets turned to Tylor Megill. They had asked Díaz to at least record the final out of the seventh inning and then get through the eighth. He lasted for just the final out of the seventh and one out in the eighth.
The Mets answered in the ninth, tying the score on the strength of Mark Vientos’ second home run of the game, but it wasn’t enough. Phillies outfielder Nick Castellanos walked it off with a single against Megill to lift Philadelphia over New York, 7-6, Sunday night.
Now, the best-of-five series shifts to Citi Field tied at one game apiece. Mets outfielder Brandon Nimmo said if they were asked to leave here with a split before the series, they probably would have taken the split. That’s understandable. But New York was also oh-so-close to leaving with one game left to win. The guess here is feelings change and they wouldn’t have signed up for losing the way they did, with their best reliever blowing a lead.
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Mets manager Carlos Mendoza made the right move by deploying Díaz when he did. They were without setup options like Phil Maton and Ryne Stanek. Díaz entered with two on and two outs in the seventh inning and struck out Kyle Schwarber, someone he has fared well against, with a slider to end the threat. Things weren’t as crisp in the eighth.
So, what to make of Díaz’s struggles? The pitch sequencing against Stott didn’t help, though Díaz said he felt good about his slider given the recent success of the pitch. Earlier in the eighth inning, Díaz walked Bryce Harper and failed to put away Castellanos, who singled. Díaz thought he made a “really good pitch to Castellanos.” It just didn’t work out.
“His slider is a little bit more arm-side right now than we would like it to be,” Mets pitching coach Jeremy Hefner said. “The velo is there. He’s still getting ahead of hitters at a pretty good clip. Not much different. We’ve just got to get the slider to the glove side more often.”
Confidence doesn’t sound like an issue.
“I feel 100 percent confident,” Díaz said. “It’s part of the game. We are playing a really good team. They have a really good lineup. I just gotta flush it, and be ready on Tuesday.”
So then, fatigue? That might be part of it.
Though he pushed back on it, some, including rival scouts, wondered how much fatigue impacted Díaz, who averaged 98.8 mph on his fastball — an increase of just a tick — but threw the pitch just eight times out of 25.
“Definitely looked like he had some fatigue, didn’t have the finish,” one scout said. “Wonder how the use and emotions drained him last week.”
Over the last eight days, Díaz has thrown 130 pitches.
All season, the Mets had exercised caution with Díaz, who missed all of last year after knee surgery. A couple of weeks ago, Mendoza said it was “big boy time.” Mostly, Díaz has answered the call. The Mets do not have an overflowing amount of reliable options in front of him, which sometimes makes getting the final nine or so outs tricky. On Sunday night, they went with one of their preferred plans. It just didn’t work out.
“I’ve been feeling fine,” Díaz said. “I’ve been able to work. This is a big moment for us. I gotta be ready, always.”
(Photo of Edwin Díaz: Hunter Martin / Getty Images)
