All season long, Edwin Diaz repeated he could not wait to prove himself in the playoffs, a fabled land he had not yet seen.
The wait was over for the first-time postseason pitcher in Saturday’s seventh inning, when he entered and fired a scoreless frame to protect a one-run lead.
And then he waited. And waited some more. And some more as the Mets put together a four-run bottom of the seventh in which they forced Padres pitchers to throw 50 pitches.
About 45 minutes after he finished the seventh inning, Diaz returned to the mound to start the eighth with the Mets up by five runs in a curious decision from manager Buck Showalter during the 7-3 win at Citi Field that kept the Mets’ season alive.
The Mets manager said he wanted Diaz for the seventh because of the pocket of the Padres’ lineup due up: Trent Grisham, a No. 8 hitter who had homered twice in the series, was leading off. Showalter was planning on going with two innings from Diaz, who then could pass off to Adam Ottavino for the final outs in an ideal Mets world.
Edwin Diaz delivers a pitch during the eighth inning of the Mets’ 7-3 Game 2 win over the Padres. Charles Wenzelberg / New York PostThe Mets’ never-ending bottom of the seventh wrenched the plan. Diaz, who said he had never before experienced so long a wait between innings, threw some pitches in the cage to James McCann to try to stay warm on a chilly night.
After his effective seventh, in which he had induced key ground outs from Grisham and Juan Soto, Diaz reappeared for the eighth against the heart of the Padres’ order. Diaz induced a ground out from Manny Machado before walking Josh Bell on four pitches. Diaz bounced back to strike out Jake Cronenworth before Showalter finally pulled him after 28 total pitches — nine after the long break.
Ottavino and Seth Lugo combined to record the final outs of a win that kept the season going but prompted a significant question: Will Diaz be available for Sunday’s win-or-go-home Game 3?
“We’ll see,” Showalter said about whether his best reliever would be ready. “Who knows what [Sunday] might bring.”
Diaz, who had not pitched since Tuesday and had only been used in nine games since Sept. 1, was more confident.
“If they need me for more than three outs, I will be ready because we need to win [Sunday],” Diaz said.
Showalter did not want to worry about Sunday before he worried about Saturday.
“We have to get this one under our belt,” Showalter said.
