PHOENIX — Edwin Diaz made it look all too easy Thursday.
This wasn’t the closer who had imploded the previous night or three days before that by allowing game-changing home runs.
Three Diamondbacks batters came to the plate in the ninth inning on this day, and Diaz retired them all (two by strikeout) in the Mets’ 3-2 victory at Chase Field.
Diaz said he consulted with pitching coach Jeremy Hefner after his latest letdown and decided a mechanical change was needed.
The right-hander was throwing his pitches from the third-base side and needed to be more direct to the plate.
“I came early today and worked with them and everything went fine today,” Diaz said.
On Wednesday, he entered in the eighth inning for a four-out save but walked two batters to load the bases before Corbin Carroll crushed a go-ahead grand slam.
Diaz also cratered Sunday, when he surrendered a walkoff homer in the ninth to Jackson Merrill in San Diego.
Both homers were allowed on sliders.
On Thursday, Diaz threw 18 pitches and 17 were fastballs.
“I just follow my catchers,” Diaz said when asked about the decision to largely abandon his slider.
Diaz appreciated the fact that he got to pitch again immediately rather than have to wait for another opportunity.
“It means a lot because we are playing in playoff [type] games and this team needs me,” Diaz said. “I have got to be ready every day, and I have got to do my job always. Today was a good bounce-back day, and I have to keep going now — keep getting outs and keep winning games.”
Diaz, who has converted just 15 of 21 save opportunities this season — he also had a disastrous May — said the previous night’s performance had left his consciousness as he entered for the ninth inning Thursday.
The Mets broke a 2-2 tie in the top of the inning on Jose Iglesias’ RBI single.
“I can flush everything right away,” Diaz said. “I went out there after I talked to Hefner. I knew what I was doing badly, and I just came today with a new mentality. I just did my job.
“This was a great series for us. Even though we lost [Wednesday], we came back and won the series against a good team. We have just got to come back and do what we have been doing and we’ll be fine.”
