After Edwin Diaz notched the save for the Mets on Friday and his team leading the Braves 2-1 on Saturday, manager Luis Rojas looked to his right-hander to try to slam the door in the ninth once again. After two quick outs, Diaz fell behind in the count to Marcell Ozuna.
He made a great 3-1 pitch, getting Ozuna to swing and miss at a slider. But the 3-2 pitch, a fastball on the outer half of the plate, was blasted to the opposite field for a home run to tie the game at two.
Despite the outcome, both Diaz and Rojas were happy with the pitch.
“Today is not a day that I'm going to lose my confidence over,” Diaz said. “At the end of the day, I located my pitch exactly where I wanted to put it. At the end of the day I was also facing a tremendous hitter, so I have to tip my cap to him because he hit the ball. But that was the exact location where I wanted to put it.”
“He came back, down 3-1 with a slider,” Rojas said. “Then he tried to get the fastball by him on the outer part of the zone and Ozuna put a good swing on it.”
Diaz’s struggles with his command last season were well-documented last season, but the 26-year-old was adamant that wasn’t the case in Ozuna’s at-bat.
“Last year I didn't have any command of my pitches,” Diaz said. “This year I have command of both my pitches. Today, I threw the pitch I wanted to throw. They knew my slider was biting. So I tried to do the same thing I did yesterday, which was freeze them with the fastball. But he beat me in this battle. That's what sometimes happens as a closer.”
Rojas also said that he still likes what he’s seen out of Diaz, as well.
“He's been consistent with the way the ball has been coming out of his hand,” Rojas said. “I've been saying that when he commands well to his extension side, that's when he's been effective. He got hurt there today. When he struggles with his command, he misses arm-side.”
With a short season and a fortified back-end of the bullpen, it’s possible that Diaz could be on a short leash as the team’s closer. But for now, it appears he’ll remain the primary option.
“He's one of the guys that has closed in the past,” Rojas said. “We have confidence in him doing it. We have confidence in other guys doing it. But he did a good job yesterday and did a good job today. We're just going to keep going that way."
