Why Mets closer Edwin Díaz thinks he’s ready to close games again

NEW YORK — Mets reliever Edwin Díaz raised his fist after striking out Giants outfielder Heliot Ramos to end the top of the seventh inning Friday at Citi Field.

“¡Vamos!” » he roared in Spanish. “Let’s go!”

It was a familiar sight, seeing the two-time Reliever of the Year Award winner laboring through a two-strikeout inning and not allowing a run, in an unfamiliar setting.

Moments earlier, Díaz entered the game as the Mets won 5-2 in the seventh inning. The stadium lights weren’t dancing and the trumpets weren’t playing — at least not until he was already throwing his warmup pitches.

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This is how the Mets planned it. Especially after the 6-foot-3 closer missed three of his last four save opportunities and struggled in his previous three outings, allowing seven runs in 2 1/3 innings. They wanted him to come in, in a no-stop situation, and “just throw the baseball,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza told reporters before the game — and it worked.

Díaz threw a scoreless inning on 14 pitches (nine for strikes) and looked like he was in complete control of his stuff – like the 2022 version of himself if you will.

“I think today was a much better outing. I think it’s the best this season,” Díaz told reporters after the game. “I was able to do what I wanted on the mound. I was able to stay calm and make pitches.

This was not possible without hard work.

Díaz hasn’t made an appearance since May 18 against the Marlins, when he allowed four runs on four hits in 1/3 inning. Since then, he has held workouts under the watchful eye of pitching coach Jeremy Hefner and with the help of paisano Francisco Lindor, who caught Díaz’s pitches in the batter’s box.

Now, Díaz is ready to take the ball back at the end of games.

“I think that whatever I did today, I have to continue doing it every day,” Díaz said. “If they give me the ball tomorrow in the nine, I’ll be ready.”

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Manny Gómez can be contacted at [email protected].