Mets’ Edwin Diaz feeling ‘really good’ after fifth consecutive scoreless outing

Edwin Diaz has been settling back into his dominant form when the Mets have needed it the most.

The star closer has now recorded five consecutive scoreless outings after striking out the side in the top of the ninth during Friday night’s walk-off win over the Cincinnati Reds.

He’s been in complete control amid New York’s late season playoff push, striking out 12 of the last 16 batters he’s faced and reaching triple digits in back-to-back outings for the first time all season.

“I’m feeling really good,” Diaz said. “Now we’re playing playoff games and we have to win all of them, so I’m just going out and competing and my confidence level is really high right now.”

This positive stretch, of course, comes after Diaz blew back-to-back save opportunities in crucial losses to the Wild Card leading San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks.

Working with pitching coach Jeremy Hefner following that rough outing in the desert, the right-hander was able to quickly fix a mechanical issue, and the results have been outstanding.

“That day I was leaning towards third base and then tried to rush myself to get aligned to home plate after I was missing with the slider,” he said. “As soon as that inning was over I talked to Hefner, the next day we came in and worked through it, and after that everything’s been working well.”

And it’s not just Diaz who has been shining of late, as Mark Vientos‘ two-run walk-off homer pushed the Mets to their season-high eighth consecutive victory.

New York has been playing all-around terrific baseball as they continue battling with the Padres, Diamondbacks, and Braves for the three NL Wild Card spots down the stretch.

“We have a really good team,” Diaz said. “Right now, we’re just going out and competing. Our bullpen is doing a good job, our starters and defense, we’re just playing really good baseball. We have to continue doing that and we’ll see where we are in the end.”