As Dodgers closer Edwin Díaz prepared to play catch on the field before the series finale Sunday against the Texas Rangers, he hoped to be available in a save situation.
“I’m really happy with how I’m feeling today,” he said before the Dodgers’ 5-2 loss Sunday, emphasizing that he wasn’t dealing with any physical ailments.
He’d been unavailable the night before during the Dodgers’ 6-3 win. So, manager Dave Roberts went to right-hander Blake Treinen to begin the ninth, and then, after a walk and an error by third baseman Max Muncy, had left-hander Alex Vesia come in to get the last out.
On Friday, Díaz had blown a save opportunity for the first time in his early Dodgers tenure. But Muncy’s walk-off homer secured the win.
Díaz’s velocity has been down this season and Friday, his fastball velocity sat at 95.5 mph and slider at 87.8, according to Statcast, 1.7 mph and 1.3 mph down from last season, respectively.
“Two miles an hour, that’s pretty significant,” Roberts said Sunday. “So I think that’s why we sort of flagged it. We wanted to have him down [Saturday] and kind of see what we get. Because a couple days ago there were a lot of throws in there too. So just trying to also, like we’ve done many times, play the long game with our guys.”
Roberts described his level of concern as “low.” Díaz also emphasized to the coaching staff that he felt good. Roberts didn’t think the velocity dip stemmed from mechanical issues.
“Today I’m still kind of yellow-lighting him,” Roberts said before the game.
There was never a situation to bring in Díaz on Sunday.
Dodgers starting pitcher Roki Sasaki made it through only four innings. He gave up two runs, despite traffic on the bases every inning, and recorded a major-league career-high six strikeouts. But inefficiency drove his pitch count up to 94.
The Dodgers were down 2-1 when Sasaki turned the game over to the bullpen, their only run scored on Shohei Ohtani’s leadoff home run — his second in as many games.
And the offense never picked up. A miscommunication on the base paths ended the third inning with two runners on. Then the Dodgers squandered another scoring opportunity in the fifth with runners on the corners. The Rangers had intentionally walked Ohtani to get to Kyle Tucker with two out. Rangers starter Jacob deGrom struck out Tucker on a changeup in the dirt.
The next inning, the Dodgers did nothing to make the Rangers pay for letting a routine popup drop in the infield. In the seventh, Tucker’s RBI single off left-hander Jacob Latz trimmed the Rangers’ lead to one run. But that’s as close as they got.
So, Roberts’ bullpen moves were dictated by the deficit. Edgardo Henriquez and Jack Dreyer covered the middle innings. Ben Casparius and Will Klein took the seventh and eighth. The four relievers combined to give up three runs in five innings.
The Dodgers next face the Mets, who lost Díaz in free agency this winter after he pitched in New York for six seasons.
“We’re still going to do what we feel is best for him and the organization,” Roberts said of the matchup. “This is a day-to-day thing. It really is. It’s not an IL thing we’re talking about.”
Diaz described lower velocity early in the season as a theme since he tore the patellar tendon in his right knee in 2023.
“But as soon as the season starts going, I start feeling better and better and better,” Díaz said. “And my velo at the end of the year will be what I’m throwing always.”
The last two seasons, Díaz’s fastball velocity averaged 96.6 mph in March and April, compared to 97.7 in August and September, according to Statcast. His only injured-list stint in that time, for a right shoulder impingement, sidelined him for the first couple of weeks of June 2024.
Before Díaz’s three-run inning Friday against the Rangers, he had given up only one run and two hits in five appearances.
“I didn’t have my life on my fastball and I couldn’t command my slider the way I wanted to,” Díaz said of his blown save. “I was feeling good. But I didn’t have my best stuff that day. That’s part of the game. I just flush it right away.”
His addition has helped elevate the bullpen — which has a 3.46 ERA, an improvement from last year (4.27) — through not only his own performance but also by pushing his fellow relievers up an inning.
On the other end, Dodgers starters had thrown at least six innings in the four games before Sunday to minimize the tax on the bullpen.
“Everybody’s doing their job,” Díaz said. “All the guys are putting a lot of work together. We are winning a lot of close games. That’s something we want, to help this team to win.”
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