NEW YORK — Edwin Díaz couldn’t stop pacing. But he wasn’t nervous.
Elite closers such as Díaz don’t get nervous. They can’t. One doesn’t earn a $100 million contract by sweating bullets in big moments. Instead, Díaz and his ilk must redirect the intensity — a blaring trumpet, 44,000 screaming fans, a one-run game in the ninth — into purposeful adrenaline, fuel for a fire.
But with his Mets, the hottest team in the National League, clinging to a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the eighth on Sunday, Díaz didn’t want to let himself cool down. He’d already pitched the eighth and had been asked to pitch the ninth. Díaz, who’d worked multiple frames only four times this season, couldn’t lose the buzz, couldn’t let his heart rate drop.
So he walked, back and forth, between the dugout and the clubhouse. His metal cleats filled the otherwise quiet room with a soft clattering as the ballgame carried on outside. A rhythm within the chaos.
“No sitting,” he told reporters postgame when asked about his between-innings routine.
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In the top of the eighth, Díaz had been summoned atypically early by his manager, Carlos Mendoza, to face the top of the Philadelphia Phillies’ order. Mendoza explained later that he wanted his best guy against their best guys: Kyle Schwarber, Trea Turner, Bryce Harper.
And so, Citi Field’s lights cut out, and the first notes of Díaz’s infamous entrance song, “Narco,” pounced from the stadium speakers. Many fans, not expecting the star closer to arrive an inning early, raised their arms in excitement. Díaz then retired the side, featuring strikeouts of Schwarber and Harper, on 11 pitches.
As Díaz descended the dugout steps, Citi Field a’roar behind him, Mendoza informed his closer that the ninth was his as well. One day after recording four outs, Díaz was being asked to work two innings. A loss would trim the Mets’ postseason lead to just a single game over the Braves, who welcome the Mets for a season-deciding series starting Tuesday.
Desperate times, desperate measures. Mendoza pushed the envelope and his closer.
It worked. In the ninth, Díaz bent but didn’t break. His control wavering, he surrendered two walks, allowing the go-ahead run to reach second with two outs. That summoned Mendoza out of the dugout for a huddle. The manager offered strategic advice and words of encouragement. Reliever Ryne Stanek hurried to get ready in the Mets bullpen. Díaz would not face Schwarber, who loomed on deck, again. The Phillies, who would clinch the NL East with a win, sensed an opening.
Díaz slammed it shut.
With two strikes, he gassed a 98.2 mph fastball past Kody Clemens, punching him out to end the game. It was the kind of fastball that seems to somehow pick up speed as it flies toward the plate, the kind Díaz has made a career and a fortune out of. On this night, it gave the Mets their sixth win in their past seven tries.
“We’ve been protecting him the whole year,” Mendoza explained after the game, referencing how the club has been cautious about Díaz’s usage. “But now it’s big boy time.”
The victory capped a revelrous homestand in Queens for a surging Mets team that finds itself in the second NL wild-card spot (by virtue of a tiebreaker over the Diamondbacks) and two games atop Atlanta with six games remaining in the season. New York went 6-1 against the Nationals and Phillies in its final seven home contests of the season, despite the team’s best player, shortstop Francisco Lindor, being unavailable due to a back issue.
Lindor’s status remains uncertain. He performed baseball activities on Sunday but didn’t look particularly comfortable. If he plays again this regular season, it will not be at full strength. The shortstop, likely to finish second in the NL MVP race, admitted as much. But the Mets haven’t missed a beat in his absence.
Had the Phillies won Sunday, they would have spent the night spraying champagne in the visiting clubhouse. Instead, the Mets forced their division rivals to wait a few days. Brandon Nimmo delivered the knockout blow, a go-ahead homer in the sixth inning off likely NL Cy Young finalist Zack Wheeler. Wheeler was otherwise fantastic on the evening, his only other run allowed a Tyrone Taylor RBI single in the second. A trio of unheralded Mets pitchers — Tylor Megill, Phil Maton and José Butto — traded zeros with Wheeler before handing the ball to Díaz.
Megill made the Mets’ Opening Day rotation only after Kodai Senga went down due to injury. Maton was a small, pre-deadline acquisition in July. Butto is a rookie who began the year as a spot starter but has blossomed in the bullpen. All are great success stories, but none exemplifies the spirit of these Mets more than Díaz.
After signing his landmark contract in November 2022, Díaz tore his ACL in dramatic fashion during the 2023 World Baseball Classic, and his road back to glory was a bumpy one. The two-time All-Star struggled mightily at points during the first half of this season. A four-run implosion against the hapless Miami Marlins in mid-May ballooned his ERA to 5.50. After that game, Díaz broke down in tears in the visiting clubhouse. Then a shoulder impingement sent him to the IL. Reed Garrett became the de facto closer.
But much like the Mets, Díaz stayed the course and rediscovered his groove in the second half. As the Mets have propelled themselves back into relevance and the thick of a postseason chase, Díaz has shined. He has a 2.42 ERA since the beginning of July. He has allowed just one run in 11 appearances in September. His two-inning performance Sunday only confirmed the obvious.
“I’ve been feeling really good,” he said. “I came back from my shoulder injury early in the season, but right now, I feel the rhythm, the rhythm I want to have.”
The Mets feel the rhythm, too.
