Yoenis Cespedes’ seventh inning home run may have been the difference in the Mets’ 1-0 Opening Day win over the Atlanta Braves, but pitching was the story of the day in Luis Rojas’ first win as Mets manager.
After five nearly perfect innings from Jacob deGrom, Seth Lugo pitched two scoreless innings and Justin Wilson threw a scoreless eighth.
That set the scene for Edwin Diaz, the 26-year-old who saw his fair share of struggles in 2019, his first season in New York following a trade from Seattle.
Diaz delivered, forcing an Ozzie Albies groundout and then striking out Marcell Ozuna and Matt Adams, with a walk to Freddie Freeman as his only blemish. Diaz showed off his electric fastball, and his slider also had the depth it was missing at times in 2019.
And while Rojas had been hesitant during spring training and summer camp in regards to naming Diaz or anyone else as the team’s closer, the rookie manager had no doubts about handing Diaz the ball in a one-run ninth inning.
“We’ve gone with what Diaz has shown us this year. I know Sugar had a little bit of a challenge towards the end of the season, but the way he threw the ball at the beginning was lights out like the Sugar we know, like the Sugar we have now,” Rojas said. “He’s done a tremendous job in camp, just being able to execute his pitches. We saw fastball swing and miss, we saw slider swing and miss, so that’s the Sugar we know and that’s why he was there closing the game with a 1-0 lead.”
Diaz posted a 5.59 ERA with the Mets in 2019. He also gave up an almost uncanny number of home runs, allowing 15 long balls in 58.0 innings of work. By the end of the season, Diaz had lost his full-time role as closer, but he’s shown enough during spring and summer camps to earn the job again in 2020.
“It was important for me. That’s what I’ve been looking for,” Diaz said on his 2020 debut, via a translator. “That’s why I prepared so hard in the offseason and both spring trainings that we had. I came in prepared, I came in calm. I had already looked at the scouting reports of the batters that I was going to face and I was just ready to go at that point.”
If Diaz can be the shutdown closer he’s been in the past, with proven arms like Lugo, Wilson, and Dellin Betances in front of him, the Mets’ bullpen could be one of the top units in all of baseball.
