Edwin Díaz Continues String Of Terrific Play With Four-Out Save

Edwin Díaz was relied upon for the four biggest outs of the New York Mets’ season on Saturday. Díaz entered the game against the Philadelphia Phillies with a two-run lead and got the final four outs of the ball game. With the victory, the Mets and Díaz hold onto a two-game lead over the Atlanta Braves in the National League wild card race.

Díaz has largely had an up-and-down season. In his first season back since knee surgery, which wiped out his 2023 season, he entered Sunday’s game with a 3.49 ERA and six blown saves. Interestingly enough, all the underlying metrics still paint Díaz as an elite pitcher.

On the season, his xBA, whiff rate, strikeout rate, and hard hit rate, among other important analytics, are all above the league’s 90th percentile. This has culminated in an xERA, FIP, and xFIP all being well under his 3.49 season ERA. Basically, Díaz has been a victim of some bad luck throughout the season.

Well, on Saturday, none of this bad luck came to bite him. Díaz entered in the eighth inning with the game’s tying run in the batter’s box. He got behind left-handed slugger Kyle Schwarber in the count, 3-1, before getting Schwarber to swing and miss at a slider to make the count full. Díaz then executed a perfect 3-2 fastball at 99 mph on the corner that stranded the runner at second and preserved the Mets’ two-run lead into the ninth.

Díaz got an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth inning, as the Mets extended the lead to three. That insurance run did not matter as he sat down the heart of the Phillies’ lineup, Trea Turner, Bryce Harper, and Alec Bohm, in order. In doing so, he captured his 19th save of the season while cementing, arguably, the Mets’ biggest win to date.

The previously discussed bad luck has stayed away from Díaz for a while now, as his results have been much closer to not only his expected numbers we outlined above, but like the pitcher Mets fans and the organization has grown used to seeing. Over his last 12 games, Díaz has tossed 11 1/3 innings, allowing only five hits and one run to go along with a single walk and a staggering 21 strikeouts.

With all that said, despite the bumps in the road at points, Díaz has been at his best when the Mets have needed him most while in the thick of a playoff race. There will surely be a few more big moments for the Mets’ closer this season. With those, hopefully he will be up to the task, and look as he has the last couple of weeks.

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