NEW YORK — Earlier this week in the Citi Field sauna room, Pete Alonso turned to Edwin Díaz to offer some words of affirmation.
“Hey dude, you look really good,” Alonso said, lauding his teammate’s recent run of results. Díaz responded that he felt strong.
“You stay right there, buddy,” Alonso continued. “You keep doing what you’re doing.”
A few days later, Díaz climbed atop the Yankee Stadium mound with a straightforward assignment: protect the one-run lead Francisco Lindor had provided with a ninth-inning sacrifice fly.
Earlier this season, as he wrestled the twin afflictions of flagging velocity and scattershot control, Díaz might have offered the Yankees a lifeline. But not Saturday. In arguably his most dominant performance of the season, Díaz set down the Yankees in order, striking out Aaron Judge on a 99 mph fastball to preserve a 3-2 Mets win in Game 2 of the Subway Series.
“Right now,” Díaz said, “I’m doing whatever I want on the mound.”
For Díaz, that desire hasn’t always aligned with his execution. Early this season, Díaz sat in the mid-90s with his fastball, unable to blow hitters away with the type of triple-digit heat he has featured in the past. Worse, Díaz could not command his pitches the way he wanted, walking six batters over a four-outing stretch in mid-April. From April 2 through May 5, he threw just one perfect inning over a span of 13 appearances.
Toward the end of that stretch, Díaz made a slight mechanical adjustment to gain better command of his arm-side fastballs — inside to right-handed hitters, outside to lefties. Rather than try to throw perfect pitches, Díaz began aiming more for the center of the plate. The ball’s natural run did the rest.
By the time Alonso caught his ear in the Citi Field sauna, Díaz believed he was throwing the ball as well as at any point since his last All-Star season in 2022. He entered Sunday’s play having allowed just one of his past 13 batters to reach base safely.
Then he leveled up. In striking out Austin Wells, popping up Ben Rice and fanning Judge, Díaz threw four of his 11 hardest pitches this season. He hit 100 mph twice, after doing so just once in his first 17 appearances. He put all three hitters in 0-2 or 1-2 counts, then did his best to get them to chase.
“I think he’s just found his rhythm,” pitching coach Jeremy Hefner said.
Facing Judge, Díaz quickly jumped ahead, 0-2, on a pair of sliders. When he couldn’t coax a swing out of Judge on three sliders out of the zone, Díaz challenged him on an up-and-in heater. The reigning American League MVP swung late on the 99-mph pitch, prompting Díaz to whirl on the mound and beat his chest.
“I was confident I wouldn’t give up a bomb against him,” Díaz said.
The save, Díaz’s 10th in 10 attempts this season, evened the first installment of the Subway Series at one game apiece. Both contests have featured animated crowds at Yankee Stadium, which Hefner believes contributed to Díaz’s improved velocity.
“The Subway Series is always going to bring a little bit more,” Hefner said. “That’s a playoff atmosphere. You’re going to get the best from both sides.”
Added Díaz: “I know how to handle pressure.”
So does Lindor, who now has three go-ahead RBIs in the ninth inning or later this season. So, too, does Alonso, who contributed two more hits and an RBI. Asked about the supercharged atmosphere at Yankee Stadium, Alonso shrugged and replied that Citi Field was louder last October, when the Mets dispatched the Phillies in the National League Division Series. Yankee Stadium, he said, is merely a “top three” loudest park.
The ballpark was undeniably noisy, however, when Judge stepped to the plate as the potential tying run in the ninth. And despite some untold number of Mets fans in attendance, it quieted considerably when Díaz struck out Judge to end things.
“Facing the best hitter at the end of the game is fun,” Díaz said. “I was trying to make my pitches, compete against him and just get him out.”
