Mets manager Carlos Mendoza can share the blame for Saturday's loss to Nationals
Mets relief pitcher Edwin Diaz reacts against the Washington Nationals during the 10th inning at Citi Field on Saturday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Seven pitches. Seven strikes. Three outs.
That was Edwin Diaz’s workday in the 10th inning against the Nationals on Saturday. He hadn’t pitched since Thursday.
Carlos Mendoza did not bring back Diaz for the 11th inning. Tyler Rogers toed the slab instead. Rogers gave up an inside-the-park two-run home run to Daylen Lile and the Mets went on to one of their most unforgivable losses of the season, falling to the Nationals, 5-3, at Citi Field.
“No,” Mendoza said when asked if he had considered another inning for Diaz. “He pitched two nights ago. He got hot [Friday]. We only [wanted him for] for one inning today.”
Here’s the unhappy Diaz recap: On Thursday, he threw 15 pitches in a 6-1 win over San Diego. His last appearance before that was on Sunday. He had Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday off. Sure, he warmed up on Friday — “got hot” — but didn’t get into the game because the Mets scored three in the bottom of the eighth and won, 12-6.
So Diaz had Friday off, too, unless warmup pitches to a bullpen catcher count the same as pitches in the heat of competition with a man holding a wooden stick at the other end.
There are a lot of reasons the Mets lost. There were comically bad errors by Juan Soto (overrunning a hit to right) and Pete Alonso (throwing too high to the pitcher on a routine grounder to first). And Cedric Mullins misplayed the ricochet off the wall on the inside-the-parker.
There was a wild pitch by Nolan McLean that bounced off the back wall and went all the way out to Alonso, who threw wildly home as a run scored. Two of the three runs the Nationals scored off McLean were unearned, and given that the Mets went into the eighth trailing 3-0, that’s kind of a big deal.
Then there’s the offense, which was shut out for nine of 11 innings by the team with the second-highest ERA in baseball entering the game (5.37). Overall, the Mets went 3-for-16 with runners in scoring position and left 13 men on base.
The Mets again did just enough to lose. And their manager didn’t do enough to win.
Yes, the Mets rewarded the sellout crowd of 43,412 by scoring two in the eighth and one in the ninth to tie it. There probably weren’t too many souls in the ballpark who thought the Mets were going to lose once they tied it on Juan Soto’s single.
Jose A. Ferrer was on the mound for Washington. On a staff full of question marks, he might have the best arm. But he was the only National to allow any runs: two in the eighth and the game-knotter in the ninth.
After a double steal and intentional walk to Alonso loaded the bases with one out, Ferrer was well over 30 pitches. But Washington interim manager Miguel Cairo, the former Mets and Yankees infielder, did what Mendoza would not: He pushed his best reliever with the game on the line. And the Nationals were playing for nothing.
Ferrer struck out Brandon Nimmo on a 92.8-mph slider and Starling Marte on his 43rd and final pitch. It was a fastball at 99.9 mph. “He made pitches,” Mendoza said. He was given the chance to. Unlike Diaz.
Ferrer can ice his arm until spring training if he wishes. He doesn’t have to worry about the postseason. Mendoza handled Diaz as if the Mets are assured of a postseason spot. They are not.
The Reds moved within one game of the Mets for the third NL wild card, and Cincinnati holds the tiebreaker. Arizona moved within two games of the Mets and also holds the tiebreaker. San Francisco is four games behind the Mets and seems to no longer be a threat, but for the Mets, it’s not over.
In his two seasons as Mets manager, Mendoza has used Diaz judiciously in the early part of the year in an effort to keep him fresh for the later months. The strategy worked to perfection in 2024 — remember how many innings and pitches Diaz racked up during the Mets’ frantic run to the NLCS? — and he has been sharp this September when called upon with a 1.18 ERA in seven outings.
Those seven outings in 20 days have spanned a total of 7 2⁄3 innings. So if Diaz is tired, it’s not from anything he’s done in the most crucial month.
Francisco Alvarez is playing with two beat-up hands. Alonso (leg) and Francisco Lindor (foot) both got hit by one of Ferrer’s very hard pitches and stayed in. It’s that time of year. You push.
Mendoza pushed the right buttons when he called on pinch hitter Mark Vientos (two-run double in the eighth) and Luis Torrens (leadoff single in the ninth). He pushed the wrong one when Rogers came out for the 11th.
Rogers fell to 0-3 as a Met. This devastating loss, though, he can share with his manager.
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
