The closest thing the Mets have had to a reliable bullpen option these last few weeks nearly became their downfall. And, for the second game in three, so did Edwin Diaz.
But somehow, some way, Seth Lugo escaped a bases-loaded eighth inning without giving up a run. Somehow, some way, Diaz escaped a ninth inning that looked doomed, as Jeff McNeil threw out Jack Flaherty, the tying run, at home for the third out. Somehow, some way, the Mets escaped Citi Field with an 8-7 win over the Cardinals, try as their bullpen did to lose a contest they once led, 8-3.
“It’s just bad luck,” Lugo told The Post, when asked about the bullpen’s performance. “With those bloopers, it just seems like anything bad [that can] happen to us, will happen to us. That luck’s going to change. I guess it’s better to get it out now than in a couple months. I really think things are going to really change around for us and luck’s going to start falling our way.”
Matt Carpenter stepped into the box in the eighth with two outs, the bases loaded, the go-ahead run at first, the weight of a collapsing bullpen on Lugo’s shoulders. Dave Eiland and Wilson Ramos came out to talk to Lugo to give him a breather and boost his confidence. They decided on a first-pitch curveball.
Lugo quickly got up in the count, working it to 0-2. He missed with a fastball. Then he blew one by as Carpenter’s bat hit air.
In the ninth, it was Diaz’s turn. As he took the mound, a day after following a blown save with a loss in the rain-suspended game, Citi Field held its breath. It turned out, with good reason. Diaz let two on, Paul DeJong scoring on Yadier Molina’s single. When Kolten Wong’s blooper fell between McNeil and J.D. Davis, you could see another blown game for the bullpen, close as the Mets had come to avoiding it.
The Mets’ bullpen, coming into Saturday, held a 6.69 ERA in the last 30 days, 8.33 in the past two weeks — their season-long number sliding upwards to 5.31 as the Nationals, their divisional rivals, have seemingly started reversing a season-long mantra of being called the worst bullpen in baseball.
And they got all too close to adding another loss the pile to before Ramos’ tag was applied to Flaherty, who pinch-ran for Molina.
“When the ball was first hit, it was a little bloop,” Diaz said through a translator. “I said, there’s no way that can drop in and the run can score at that point. But McNeil got up, and he made a great throw home and we got the out.”
When the home-plate umpire signaled out, ending the game, and the crowd let out a cathartic roar, Diaz raised his hands in the air. He — and the bullpen — had a much-needed win.
