The Mets’ bullpen was the worst group in baseball over the course of Edwin Diaz’s 10-game suspension following his sticky-stuff related ejection against the Cubs.
But with their All-Star closer finally back in the mix on Saturday afternoon, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that they stepped up and bounced back in a big way during the team's win over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
“Great job by the bullpen today,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “Obviously, it’s a totally different ballgame when you have Diaz to go in the ninth. I was able to be more aggressive making decisions and getting the starter out of the game, they were great.”
First it was Jose Butto, who came on in relief and continued his strong showing since returning from Triple-A after starter David Peterson failed to get through the fifth.
The young right-hander earned his third win of the season and he has now allowed just three baserunners across 3.2 scoreless innings in his first two appearances since joining the team in the bullpen.
“He looked really good,” Mendoza said. “The biggest thing as he adjusts to this role is making sure we give him enough time to get ready, we’ll continue to adjust and communicate with him and see how he’s feeling each and every day.”
Reed Garrett followed that up with a bit of a shaky outing, walking two and allowing a hit, but he was able to dance his way out of a bases loaded jam with some help from home plate umpire John Tumpane.
And after Dedniel Nunez worked through an easy bottom of the eighth, Diaz returned and did his thing in the ninth, as he struck out Rowdy Tellez with a 98 mph fastball and then rolled a game-ending double play.
“I felt really good out there,” Diaz said. “I was ready to go, I felt a little anxious after I hit the first batter but I settled down and just tried to make pitches and we were able to get the three outs and the win.”