Mets player Edwin Diaz returns from suspension and closes door to Pirates

PITTSBURGH – What a difference a closer makes.

After a few days of bullpen absences, Edwin Diaz returned from his 10-game suspension on Saturday and immediately shut down the Pittsburgh Pirates to help the Mets to a 5-2 victory at PNC Park. Diaz hit the first batter he faced but struck out the second, getting Andrew McCutchen to ground into a double play for his eighth save of the season.

Brandon Nimmo went 3-for-4, Luis Torrens went 3-for-4 with a three-run double, and despite some shaky moments, the bullpen defended the lead, with Jose Butto (3-3), Reed Garrett, Dedniel Nuñez and Diaz holding the Pirates (42-46) scoreless over 4 1/3 innings.

“It’s a totally different game when you know Edwin Diaz is ready to go in the ninth inning,” manager Carlos Mendoza said.

With Diaz back, Mendoza was able to create favorable matchups with relievers in a game that was only one point ahead. Left-hander David Peterson was good but not great, and the Mets’ 3-0 lead became a 3-2 lead after he allowed a two-run homer in the fourth inning.

The Pirates cut the lead to one in the fourth inning when Peterson allowed a two-out, two-run home run to Oneil Cruz. He was nearly out of the inning when he faced Joey Bart for a 1-2 lead, but Bart fought back and got the count going, and Peterson couldn’t get him to chase a high fastball for ball 4.

Bart’s seven-pitch swing left Peterson prone to errors. He made an error on Cruz, who hit a sinker that didn’t sink and sent the ball into the Allegheny River.

“I had two long at-bats with Bart, I think I threw 17 pitches to him in total. Obviously, I would have loved to have crushed those two,” Peterson said. “He fouled off a fastball and went through some. And I think he was kind of looking for something in the inside half and … yeah.”

Peterson had two earned runs on five hits in 4 1/3 innings, two walks and five strikeouts. He faced two batters in the fifth inning despite throwing only 87 pitches. The Mets took no chances and went with Butto.

“I was able to be more aggressive and make the decision to take the starter out of the game,” Mendoza said. “Butto came in and got us several innings, getting ground balls when he needed them. Reed Garrett helped out of that jam, made throws and got the strike three. And then Nuñez was an easy 1-2-3…

“Huge comeback win.”

The Mets (43-44) scored two key safety runs in the sixth inning against right-hander Ryder Ryan, a 29-year-old minor league walk-on who spent three seasons in the Mets’ system.

Ryan allowed back-to-back singles from Mark Vientos and Torrens to start the inning. Tyrone Taylor tried to move them forward with a bunt, but hit the ball to left and Ke’Bryan Hayes rushed in and got the out. But Jose Iglesias continued his winning streak with a double to left field that barely cleared the fence for a home run. Vientos scored and Torrens went to third base.

Bryan Reynolds caught Harrison Bader’s fly ball with a leaping ball into the left field gap, but the ball was deep enough for Torrens to score, giving the Mets a 5-2 lead.

Pittsburgh was dangerous in the seventh inning, loading the bases on Garrett with one out. Ke’Bryan Hayes hit a lowliner up the middle and Francisco Lindor made a fantastic catch that got the out and prevented any runs from being scored. Garrett fell behind 3-1 against pinch hitter Jack Suwinski. Suwinski thought he had gotten the fourth ball with a sinker at the corner of the zone, but it was ruled a strike to complete the count.

Garrett finished him off by swinging him through a splinter. The lead remained.

Left-hander Bailey Falter (4-7) was injured in the third inning and was on all bases before the trainers checked on him. Former Mets right-hander Dennis Santana had to get out of that predicament without making an out.

He almost did that.

Santana struck out Pete Alonso and Mark Vientos before Torrens cleared the bases with a double off the corner of the bullpen fence in left-center field, giving the Mets a 3-0 lead.

“The fact that he made it was huge for us,” Mendoza said of the backup catcher.

The Mets don’t get seven innings from their starting pitchers on a regular basis, so long relievers like Butto and Adrian Houser are becoming increasingly important. Mendoza can let them play 2-3 innings and wait for favorable matchups for the high leverage relievers.

After three days of bullpen outages, the Mets were able to effectively close the gap between Peterson and Diaz. On Saturday night, the relievers were under far less pressure than they have been in the last ten games, which shows how valuable Diaz is to the Mets.

“I’ll be aggressive at times depending on the matchups and things like that,” Mendoza said. “I knew they were going to use some (left-handers), and I thought that would be a good matchup for Reed Garrett in that spot, knowing they were going to step in as a backup. And I thought Butto did his job there.”