PHILADELPHIA — It’s the trade that gets worse by the day.
While Robinson Cano’s struggles this season have been well-documented, the supposed gem of Brodie Van Wagenen’s offseason blockbuster has come crashing down with him.
Edwin Diaz’s latest meltdown Thursday, in which he gave up five runs on two homers to the Phillies in the bottom of the ninth, dealt the Mets a 6-3 loss at Citizens Bank Park. It was the closer’s fourth blown save in his last eight chances after blowing just four in 61 chances all of last season with the Mariners.
“There’s not that much of a difference,” Diaz said through an interpreter. “Last year I blew four games and this year’s kind of been the same.”
Diaz started the year a perfect 12-for-12 in save opportunities but has become shaky over the last month. In his past 12 appearances, spanning 11 ¹/₃ innings, Diaz has been charged with 13 earned runs on 20 hits, four of them home runs, and five walks.
Given a 3-1 lead on Thursday, Diaz entered in the ninth and walked the first batter he faced, throwing a slider out of the zone on a full count, which preceded Maikel Franco’s home run to tie it. Another walk and a single later, Diaz offered up the game-winning homer to Jean Segura.
“I was trying to make the best pitches I could, but it seemed like they were just prepared for every pitch,” Diaz said. “Just a bad day for me.”
Diaz had looked strong Wednesday night in a 1-2-3 ninth inning, with two strikeouts, as he sent a tie game to extra innings. Less than 24 hours later, he could not repeat his performance. Diaz thought his pitches had the same “intensity” and manager Mickey Callaway agreed.
“[Wednesday] night it was electric right through the middle of the zone and they couldn’t hit it,” Callaway said. “From the side, it looked like the same life to the fastball and tonight, they’re not swinging through it. It’s really hard to assess. The one thing that hurt us were the walks more than anything.”
The Mets have been handling Diaz carefully in order to protect him. They started the season refusing to use him for more than three outs, a rule that has since been extended to four outs, but still no more than that. Before Wednesday, Diaz had thrown just 12 pitches in 10 days, but Callaway said they have not noticed any usage-based trend that has led to his struggles.
Instead, they are left trying to get Diaz and Cano back on track as the deal continues to burn them — never mind what prospect Jarred Kelenic does for the Mariners down the road.
“That’s just not why you go make the deal,” Callaway said. “But I have faith in those guys.”
