The Mets have been careful with Edwin Diaz for much of the season after the closer missed all of last season following knee surgery.
Those days are over now that the team needs every win it can get.
And against the Phillies, the closer delivered two games in a row.
After getting the final four outs in Saturday’s win, Diaz was tested even more in Sunday’s 2-1 victory, as he was tasked with getting his first six-out save of the season.
Diaz pitched a scoreless eighth against the top of the Phillies lineup and then pitched around a pair of walks in the ninth, as the Mets held on.
The closer said he didn’t necessarily expect to get both innings when he came in to start the eighth, but after an 11-pitch inning, in which he struck out Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper, Carlos Mendoza asked Diaz to get the ninth.
“I made the decision to go to him in the eighth,’’ Mendoza said. “I wanted my best guy against their best hitters and let it play out.”
Afterwards, he checked with Diaz and told him, “It’s your game.”
Diaz walked Bryson Stott with one out and Stott stole second.
As J.T. Realmuto struck out for the second out, Stott took off for third and Francisco Alvarez’s throw hit the bag and bounced away.
Luckily for the Mets, it didn’t go far and Stott remained at third.
Alvarez’s throw could just have easily bounced into left field, which would have allowed Stott to score and tie the game.
Instead, after Brandon Marsh walked and stole second, Diaz got Kody Clemens swinging to end the game.
The Mets are off Monday and Mendoza said he would have to see if Diaz would be available for the series opener against the Braves in Atlanta on Tuesday.
Diaz, though, said he felt good.
“I’ll be ready for Tuesday,’’ Diaz said. “We [have been] playing playoff games since early September and I’ve been feeling really good.”
The only other time Diaz pitched two innings this season — also scoreless — he struggled and gave up nine earned runs and three homers in his next eight appearances.
“You look back, you protect him the whole year and early on stayed away from back-to-back [appearances] because of situations like this,’’ Mendoza said. “He’s coming off a major injury and struggled at the beginning of the season. But he’s an elite closer, one of the best in the game.”
And he’s pitching like it now.
“What we’re seeing lately with him is his 2022 form,’’ Mendoza said. “And here we are, needing everything out of everybody and he’s giving it to us.”
