It appears something physical has been impacting New York Mets struggling closer Edwin Diaz lately, as the team placed him on the 15-day injured list Wednesday with a right shoulder impingement.
Diaz has blown three saves in his last five appearances, and four over his nine outings in May, which is uncharacteristic for the two-time All-Star reliever.
Diaz owned a 2.13 ERA entering the month, but it’s inflated to 5.40 now over 20 innings of work in the 2024 season.
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While the Mets’ overall struggles, which included an MLB-worst 9-22 stretch, are not entirely Diaz’s fault, blown saves with a lead in the ninth is not what you want to be from someone expected to be shutdown.
The first blown save came on May 5, when Diaz gave up a homer to the Tampa Bay Rays, resulting in a 7-6 loss. That was just the first of the season for the right-hander, but things began to collapse from there.
Diaz was fine in his next two outings, not allowing a run in each of them on May 6 and May 12. However, he blew back-to-back saves against the Philadelphia Phillies on May 13 and 16.
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Then, on May 18 against the Miami Marlins, Diaz imploded, giving up four runs in the bottom of the ninth, which ended with a Miami walk-off in another crushing loss for New York.
Hope came when he was solid against the San Francisco Giants over Memorial Day Weekend, but he blew his fourth save of the month one game later, giving up one run on two hits on May 25 before the Giants scored five runs in the top of the 10th inning to run away with it.
Diaz has had his ups and downs with the Mets, including his first season with them in 2019 when he owned a 5.59 ERA. However, he’s been arguably the best closer in baseball in other seasons, including 2022 when he had a 1.31 ERA over 62.0 innings with 32 saves.
Diaz wasn’t able to play the 2023 season after tearing the patellar tendon in his right knee while celebrating Puerto Rico’s win over the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic that year.
The Mets certainly hope Diaz can figure out his ailment and get back to his usual dominant self, as they desperately need some consistency in the bullpen.
New York is having a rough season so far, owning a 22-32 record entering Wednesday, which is 15 games back of the Phillies in the NL East.
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