'Wasn't my day': Rare Díaz loss sinks Mets

WASHINGTON -- The highlight reel of Friday’s 1-0 Mets loss to the Nationals will show one thing more prominently than all else: Yan Gomes’ walk-off single against Edwin Díaz, which sent the Nats spilling out of their dugout in the ninth.

But the endgame leading up to that point was far more complex. Gomes’ single only occurred after several moves of the chess board and a questionable umpiring call, not to mention nine innings of silence from the Mets’ offense. In the end, Díaz took the blame. He probably shouldn’t have had to.

Joey Lucchesi gave the Mets plenty of chances early, pitching into the sixth inning and, for the first time this season, facing batters a third time through the order. As both sides continued to put up zeroes, the intrigue of the final two innings began to unfold.

Decisions, decisions
Rojas’ original plan was for Seth Lugo, the Mets’ best multi-inning weapon, to pitch the ninth after striking out the only batter he faced in the eighth. But Lugo was still feeling the strain from his 37-pitch outing on Tuesday. Combine that with his rush to get hot in the bullpen on Friday and his cooldown in the dugout after a six-pitch battle in the eighth, and Lugo was feeling something less than his best. The Mets decided not to take a chance by pushing him.

That’s why Rojas pivoted to Díaz in the ninth inning of a tie game on the road -- a situation in which many managers tend to avoid their closers.

But Rojas had another reason for going to Díaz, as well. Washington’s 3-4-5 hitters were due to bat, beginning with 22-year-old wunderkind Juan Soto. If the Mets were going to lose on a walk-off, they wanted to make sure they would go down with their best reliever, period.

“That’s probably the guy that you single out the most as far as not getting beat by him,” Rojas said of Soto. “So we bring what we think is our top reliever -- the guy that can shut the door, shut them down and give us a chance.”

Borderline call
Rojas’ decisions set up a dynamic matchup between one of the game’s top closers and best power hitters, but things changed when Díaz opened the at-bat with two straight balls. Eventually, Díaz ran the count full, before walking Soto on a slider that appeared to hug the inside corner.

As Díaz began walking off the mound, believing he had executed strike three, Soto zealously flipped his bat in celebration of the walk. Only then did Díaz realize what had happened.

“The 3-2 pitch to Soto was a strike to me,” Díaz said. “The guys inside [the clubhouse] told me it was a strike. After that pitch, the inning changed completely.”

Indeed, with Pete Alonso holding Soto close to first base, Ryan Zimmerman punched an opposite-field single through the vacated right side of the infield. That put Díaz in a near-impossible situation, with runners on the corners and no one out, leading to Gomes’ walk-off hit.

Not to worry
The flashy headline was another loss for Díaz, who has endured plenty of criticism over his first two-plus years in New York. But the bigger picture is that Díaz has been routinely excellent in 2021. In save situations, he is 14-for-15. And while Díaz has struggled in non-save situations, the sample size in those games remains so small as to be virtually meaningless.

What’s more, Díaz had not allowed a run in a tie game until Friday. And since joining the Mets, his ERA was slightly better in non-save situations (3.93) than in save situations (4.04) -- all evidence that much of the noise surrounding the Mets’ closer is just that -- noise.

“It was a tie game in the ninth, so I had to get the three outs to give the team a chance to win,” Díaz said of Friday’s outing. “Today wasn’t that day. I came here to pitch my game, try to attack the hitters the way I do. I made good pitches, but today wasn’t my day."