Edwin Díaz throws a dominant inning, a breakdown
What Happened
The New York Mets lead the Miami Marlins by two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning. Closer Edwin Díaz, who has struck out 52% of the batters he has faced this season, trots in from the bullpen to secure the victory. Díaz quickly gets ahead of the first batter, Joey Wendle, with a sharp slider that the hitter swings over. He then blows a high fastball past Wendle for strike two. Díaz goes back to his slider, but this one has less sweep and more of a changeup-like movement, freezing Wendle for the first out. The next batter, a right-hander, steps in. Díaz uses the same sequence, starting with the slider before elevating a 100-mph fastball for a swinging strikeout. He finishes off the at-bat with another well-located slider on the outside corner. Díaz has now recorded two quick outs, both via strikeout. "I can do this, I can do this," Díaz is heard muttering to himself as he prepares to face the final batter. He again goes to his slider, this one with more horizontal movement, freezing the left-handed hitter. Díaz then blows a high fastball past him for strike two. "Sit the fuck down," Díaz says with a smile, as he paints the outside corner with another slider to complete the immaculate inning - nine pitches, nine strikes, three strikeouts. Díaz's dominance is on full display, as he perfectly locates his fastball and slider to overpower the Marlins' hitters. The contrasting movement on his slider, with the pitch sweeping away from righties and cutting in on lefties, keeps the batters off-balance. Díaz is clearly in complete control, aware of the possibility of the immaculate inning and laughing it off when the final batter fouls off the ninth pitch. This was a clinic in closing out a game, with Díaz's electric stuff and pinpoint command on full display.
Full Transcript
Click timestamps to jump to that momentthe Mets are up two runs on the Marlins in this game it's the bottom of the ninth so cue the
trumpets because Edwin Diaz is coming in he strikes out 52 percent of the batters he faces this year
and this is a dominant performance from him steps in looks at the catcher hitter okay I can do this
I can do this no you can't they go the three finger wiggle so that's a slider and he throws
that one nice little like slight slide swings over it was in the zone now they're going to go
outside fastball doesn't quite get it outside because it's just too electric up and in the
middle foul back oh two they're going to go back to the outside slider and that one has a real nice
sweeping movement that's out number one strike strike strike next batter is a righty so how do
they attack him well they're going to go three finger wiggle that's
the slider now this slider is a little different than the others because it's got no sweep it's
really like just a spinning change up it doesn't do much then fastball up top 100 top of the zone
back to the outside is my favorite pitch of the sequence and that is just like a slider again not
crazy movement but just dotted and less oh sit the fuck down here are these two at bats side by side
and the first one he was facing a righty and the next one he
was facing a lefty it didn't matter he used the exact same sequence on both opened them up outside
slider then on the 0-1 pitch came up high with the fastball they got the swing and miss then went back
to the outside slider pretty cool pretty exactly what he wanted to do here's both hitters on either
sides of the plate both pitches aha sliders to the far sides of the plate fastball up to the middle
and then sliders to the far side of the plate fastball up to the middle and then sliders to the
slider far sides of the plate but do you see the difference in the sliders like the one he threw
to the righty sweeps away the one he threw to the lefty is just kind of like a change up that
doesn't move i wonder how much he can control that or not control that or if it just whatever
happens happens now he throws the fastball where he wants to throw the fastball and he gets a swing
and a miss it's kind of an ugly swing from joey wendell but that's where he wants to throw that
inside fastball that's a tough pitch so he goes back to it and he's going to throw the fastball
right away and gets the called strike got the swing strike now for the immaculate inning oh it's
fouled off and he knows that he's smiling it was almost nine pitches nine strikes three strikeouts
but joey wendell fouls that one off oh my goodness oh my god oh two they're gonna go back to the
slider and get some absolutely dominant performance by edwin d has been doing it all year
but i do like how easy he made it how
dotted those pitches were how the slider kind of swept when he needed it to and didn't i like that
he knew about the immaculate inning and then laughed about it and got it right at the end
so good shit by edwin diaz just mowing down the marlins and if you got some pubes you need to
mow down then head to manscaped use discount code john boy 20 for 20 off you can get the lawnmower
4.0 electric trimmer it's a bush's worst nightmare it's like a
worst nightmare is edwin diaz in the ninth with control i do think the the joey wendell at bat at
the end is where he actually put it together and threw all the pitches where he wanted to throw it
like that's where he wants to throw out fastball it's where he wants to throw that fastball this
is where he wants to throw that slider under the zone and this one is the perfect pitch
good job by edwin diaz absolutely electric