The Mets walked off with a 5-4 win over the Phillies on Friday, but perhaps the biggest storyline from the game was the latest entry into Edwin Diaz's disastrous first season in New York.
With the game tied in the bottom of the eighth, the Mets rallied to put two runs on the board. The first came on an RBI single by Pete Alonso, giving the Mets a one-run lead. Wilson Ramos then followed up with an RBI single of his own, making it a 4-2 game.
With a two-run lead, Mickey Callaway elected to turn the ball over to Edwin Diaz in a high-leverage situation.
Things for Diaz started well enough, as pinch-hitter Logan Morrison went down swinging. But the next batter, Jean Segura, singled to bring the tying run to the plate. JT Realmuto then jumped all over a hanging slider, blasting it to left field. His home run tied the game at 4-4, and drew groans from the Citi Field crowd.
After the game, Callaway explained his decision to go to Diaz in that spot.
"We know, and I've said this, Diaz has to be good for us to get to where we want to go," Callaway said. "So we'll continue to run him out there in those situations when Lugo's not available or Wilson's not available, and if he doesn't get the job done, then we won't get the job done. That's not any extra pressure on him. He understands the situation."
Diaz blew his seventh save of the season, and his ERA has now bloated to 5.88. Diaz has now allowed 14 ninth-inning home runs this season, tying Francisco Rodriguez (2014 Brewers) for the most in MLB history, according to ESPN Stats & Info.
"It's kind of uncanny right now," said Callaway. "You strike out three, you get all of those swing and misses in that inning, and then you make two mistakes and they rifle one the other way and hit a homer. It's hard to put your finger on - 80-something strikeouts in 50-something innings - and the homers still continue to come.
"Like I said, we're going to continue to have faith in him and put him in situations because we have to to get to where we want to go."
After the game, Diaz took a positive approach to his struggles, and blamed them partly on just straight bad luck.
"I just stay positive all the time," Diaz said. "Today I thought I actually did a pretty good job, but it was just that one mistake that I made, but I'll just keep going out there and keep working.
"I think it's been a lot of bad luck. Sometimes I leave bad pitches over the plate and they pop out and I get outs, but it's just been a little bit of bad luck. But I go out there every time and I just try to get outs because I know my stuff is pretty good."
With less than month remaining in the season, how Diaz is used down the stretch could play a large role in the Mets' push for a Wild Card spot.