Mets hang on for win over red-hot Padres for third straight victory
Carlos Mendoza offered a smile and a laugh when the question was presented.
Yes, the Mets’ manager said, Edwin Diaz was available to pitch a second straight day after coming off the injured list because of a right shoulder impingement.
This was a few hours before the Mets and Padres opened a three-game series at Citi Field, well before Diaz would close out a 2-1 victory in emphatic fashion, sending the Mets to their ninth win in 13 games.
“He’s feeling good,” Mendoza said at the time.
Lately, so are the Mets. With a split of the final two games of the series, they will have gone five consecutive series’ without losing one.
They have now won three straight games in Queens for just the second time this year, and they have their closer back.
This looked like the 2022 version of Diaz, overpowering hitters with his blazing fastball and sharp slider, shaking off a leadoff single, and coming back from 3-1 down in the count to blow away Jake Cronenworth.
He’s resembled a different pitcher since coming off the Injured List on Thursday, picking up his first save in 39 days.
His velocity is up — he hit 100 mph for the first time this season on Friday — and his command has improved.
“He’s back and we’re going to need him,” Mendoza said.
Said Diaz: “I feel great, I feel happy. … I think I’m making better pitches because I’m feeling way better than before. I have to continue doing what I’ve been doing right now and we’ll be in a good place.”
It was an eventful ninth inning. Jurickson Profar singled on the ninth pitch he saw from Diaz, then pinch-runner Jose Azocar stole second.
But Diaz struck out Manny Machado, Jeff McNeil’s sliding play preserved the lead and Diaz got Cronenworth to waive at a 3-2 slider to end it.
Before the Cronenworth at-bat, Francisco Alvarez came out to the mound to give Diaz a breather and a pep talk.
The young catcher told him: “I got a lot of trust in you. Just follow me and make pitches and we’ll be fine,” Diaz said.
The Mets have hardly been dominant of late.
Thursday, they were two outs from dropping a series to the lowly Marlins before J.D. Martinez’s walk-off two-run homer. And Friday, Martinez’s third-inning, two-run double was all the offense they could muster.
They managed just one hit the rest of the way, befuddled by Padres knuckleballer Matt Waldron.
It didn’t matter.
Sean Manaea and four relievers held down Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr. and the Padres, as the Mets crept to within six games of .500 at 31-37.
San Diego came in hot, having won five of its last six games that included a sweep of the A’s, but the NL West team managed just five hits against the Mets.
So far on this homestand, they have allowed just 11 runs across four games.
“It’s a different whole bullpen, honestly. Different team,” Martinez said, referring to the addition of Diaz. “I keep saying it, he’s the anchor back there in the pen. If we can just get him the ball, that’s a lot of games we can win. … If he comes back and does what he’s done the last couple of days, it’s going to be fun, a fun little run.”
The Mets broke through in the third with two outs. Brandon Nimmo, in the midst of a 3-for-22 stretch, singled through the hole into right field and Martinez laced a two-run double down the right-field line.
The Padres got one back in the fifth on Jackson Merrill’s sixth home run of the year. It was the lone blemish over the first five frames against Manaea, who fanned seven in that span and allowed just two other singles.
Manaea only lasted one hitter into the sixth.
After Luis Arraez’s single leading off the frame, Mendoza went to his bullpen. Adam Ottavino, Jake Diekman, Sean Reid-Foley and Diaz did the rest, as the Mets’ recent momentum continued to build.
