NEW YORK — Buck Showalter wasn’t going to make the same mistake again.
Once criticized for waiting to put closer Zack Britton in an elimination game, Showalter aggressively used Edwin Díaz on Saturday night, turning to him in the seventh inning for five outs in New York’s 7-2 Game 2 win over the Padres.
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After Jacob deGrom gutted through six innings with a one-run lead, Díaz got the ball in the seventh against the bottom of the San Diego order. It was certainly an unconventional choice. Showalter has used Díaz before the ninth inning this season, but always to face the heart of the opposing order.
But in a one-run game with the Mets facing elimination, Showalter shied away from exposing Adam Ottavino to San Diego’s lefties — Ottavino allowed an OPS 350 points higher to lefties than righties this season. He instead deployed Díaz starting with lefty Trent Grisham, who’d homered in consecutive games. (Ottavino’s later struggles against that part of the order when the lead had bloated retroactively justified the move.)
An interesting call to go to Edwin Diaz in the seventh, but there's some to like. For one, the math adds up; with a 3-2 lead, these outs are vital with time to add more. Yes, 8-9-1, but Grisham, a lefty, has been hot. Chances are, too, of course, Diaz still sees heart of order.
— Will Sammon (@WillSammon) October 9, 2022
The plan was to stick with him through lefty Jake Cronenworth, seven batters away, before turning the game over to Ottavino.
“I was ready,” Díaz said. “They let me know before the game what is the plan with me. I got to the bullpen early and I was ready to get the call from Buck.”
Díaz did his job in the seventh, in part thanks to his own slick fielding. He covered first base in time to get Jurickson Profar on a play close enough to be reviewed, and with the tying run in scoring position, he retired Juan Soto on a comebacker.
Showalter’s plan became more complex because of the Mets’ success in the bottom of the seventh. New York scored four times in a half-inning that lasted 43 minutes. With the lead pushed to five and Díaz sitting for an unusually long time, Showalter could have opted for a different reliever in the eighth. He didn’t, sticking with Díaz to get two more outs in the frame.
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Díaz stayed sharp during the long bottom of the seventh by throwing a half-dozen pitches in the batting cage.
“It crossed my mind,” Showalter said of taking Díaz out after the seventh. “At 7-2, Manny (Machado) leading off, we’ll think about tomorrow, tomorrow.”
Díaz tossed 28 pitches in 1 2/3 innings. He said he’d be available Sunday.
“If they need me more than three outs, I will be ready because we’ve got to win,” he said. Showalter said Díaz lobbied to finish the eighth, but by that point the manager wanted to “save some bullets” for Sunday.
“He’s been amazing,” said Brandon Nimmo. “One of the few things in baseball you can count on all the time. Baseball is a game of ups and downs, and he just doesn’t seem to have any downs.”
Díaz has appeared on back-to-back days a dozen times this season. None of those came after an outing of more than three outs or 23 pitches. Once in 2017 and once in 2018 while with the Mariners, Díaz pitched the day after throwing 28 pitches; both times he tossed a scoreless frame for Seattle.
(Photo: Brad Penner / USA Today)
