METS’ EDWIN DIAZ FACING POTENTIAL SUSPENSION AFTER EJECTION VS. CUBS

It is not getting any better for New York Mets reliever Edwin Diaz. The closer was thrown out of Sunday night’s series-finale game at Wrigley Field against the Chicago Cubs before he could even throw a pitch.

New York went with Diaz in the bottom of the night to close out the contest with the Mets ahead by three runs, 5-2. However, second base umpire Brian Walsh seemed to notice something amiss while checking Diaz’s hands. New York manager Carlos Mendoza tried to make a case for Diaz, but crew chief Vic Carapazza ultimately decided to eject the pitcher from the contest over the illegal substance found on the closer’s hands.

With his ejection due to the said illegal substance, Edwin Diaz is now about to serve a mandatory 10-game suspension, as noted by Jeff Passan of ESPN.

“Ten-game suspension for Edwin Díaz will be coming after this ejection for having a foreign substance on his hand.”

Diaz still has the right to make an appeal over the suspension, but it’s hard to count on him winning that off-the-field battle even when just basing it off on how his hands looked like when he entered the Cubs game.

After the game, which the Mets still won 5-2 despite the late-inning controversy, Diaz told reporters that the substance found on his hand was “the same thing” he usually uses (h/t SNY).

Carapazza, however, has a much different opinion about it, as he sounded convinced that what Diaz had in his hands is something that shouldn’t be used in a baseball game.

“It definitely wasn’t rosin and sweat. We’ve checked 1,000’s of these. I know what that feeling is. This was very sticky,” Carapazza said (h/t Bob Nightengale of USA Today).

This is another wild turn of events in Diaz’s topsy-turvy 2024 campaign. Diaz has just returned from an injury that forced him to miss over three weeks of action. He has been solid since returning from injury, having allowed zero runs and two hits with three strikeouts, two saves, and a win in his first three appearances this June. It looked as though he was really turning things around, especially following a brutal May where he recorded an 8.68 ERA to go along with four blown saves across 9.1 innings of work.

Social media reacts to Mets closer Edwin Diaz’s ejection

Of course, fans lit up social media timelines with lots of reactions to Diaz getting thrown out of the Mets-Cubs game.

“At this point I’m convinced the Mets are simply a sideshow plot for the MLB written by Larry David…”

“Haven’t they learned yet that this isn’t going to fly? They’re checking dudes like crazy”

“Mets are doing so good now the umps will do anything to mess up there season including lie. Haterzzzzz”

“Too much rosin plus sweat normal stuff… Umps just mad they gonna be replaced with robots.”

“As a Braves fan he shouldn’t have been ejected it was clearly just rosin and sweat ofc they would let a Yankee like German simply go wash it off but he gets thrown out”

“With the way he’s been pitching this season, this might actually benefit the Mets”

“Edwin Díaz’s ejection is tough for the Mets. With an automatic 10-game suspension, it looks like the bullpen will have to step up in his absence.”

 

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The post Mets’ Edwin Diaz facing potential suspension after ejection vs. Cubs appeared first on ClutchPoints.

2024-06-24T04:36:16Z dg43tfdfdgfd