Mets hope to get lift in bullpen from Edwin Diaz, debut of Eric Orze

For the first time since June 23, the Mets will have a full complement of pitchers in their bullpen for their matchup against the Pirates on Saturday afternoon.

Edwin Diaz is set to return from his 10-game suspension following his ejection for sticky stuff.

The Mets are also calling up 26-year-old right-hander Eric Orze, a former fifth round pick in the 2020 MLB Draft, who is set to make his MLB debut after twice beating cancer. Orze has been one of the top relievers for Triple-A Syracuse this season, striking out 56 batters across 38⅓ innings with a 3-0 record and 3.76 ERA and 1.33 WHIP.

The Mets had been scouring their bullpen ranks to fill the need with Diaz's absence, shifting starter Jose Butto into a relief role, and trotting out Matt Festa, Tyler Jay and Ty Adock over the last week.

"You always keep an eye on it, and I've been saying it, you're gonna need a lot of them, not only the guys on the 40 (man), you're going to need 50, 60 guys to get through 162-plus (games)," Carlos Mendoza said. "We're watching Triple-A, we're watching Double-A, obviously David's active all the time. Yeah, there's a lot of names there that might get an opportunity here.

The Mets' bullpen had some warts exposed during Diaz's absence, with Jake Diekman surrendering two runs in a 7-5 loss on Wednesday, Reed Garrett blowing a save against the Astros on June 29 and Matt Festa allowing five runs in the 11th inning of a loss one day later.

Diaz seemed to be turning a corner before his suspension. He tossed three scoreless innings with three strikeouts, two saves and a win after coming off the injured list on June 13. In the month of May, Diaz blew four of his five save opportunities while allowing nine earned runs across 9⅓ innings.

This season, Diaz has seven saves and 33 strikeouts across 23 innings while posting a 4.70 ERA and 1.17 WHIP.