Edwin Díaz made his first appearance since April 19 for the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday, recording the save in their 4-2 victory over the Seattle Mariners.
The Dodgers activated Díaz from the 60-day injured list before the game as the right-hander completed his recovery process from a procedure to remove loose bodies in his right elbow.
It was not a shutdown outing by any means for the 32-year-old, but Díaz looked to be in good health on the mound. The Mariners’ lineup was ultra aggressive in their at-bats against Díaz and were honed in on his fastball, with the first four batters of the inning making hard contact against the heater.
“I think they were swinging at the fastball pretty good, and they hit it pretty good, to me,” Díaz began. “That’s why I went slider to the last hitter, because as soon as I saw Naylor hit that ball that was up and in to him, I got worried a little bit, and then started throwing my slider.
“But it was my first game. I feel great. I think my pitches were really good today, velo-wise, shape-wise, I was in strike zone. So nothing to worry to me. Just keep grinding, keep getting better, and I feel great today.”
A decrease in velocity was an early indicator that Díaz was not fully healthy earlier in the season, which made Wednesday’s appearance reassuring. But still, after his fastball was hit around, Díaz planned to watch the film and see how the Mariners were able to key on his fastball so effectively.
“I saw a couple 97, 98, 99 (mph), so I was really happy with the fastball,” Díaz noted. “Just keep grinding. My first game back, I was a little bit anxious, but I threw strikes, I made pitches. At the end of the day, I got the W. I’ll see the video to see what they were looking for on the fastball, I’ll make an adjustment and try the next time to make some pitches to make them chase.”
Díaz’s early assessment was a credit to the Mariners’ approach, but he also wants to improve with more upward movement rather than lateral movement on his fastball.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was encouraged by his closer’s first game back even though the Mariners got to him a little bit. Health, fastball velocity and secondary pitches were three positive the Dodgers’ skipper took away from Wednesday.
“Yeah, it was. I mean, I think he touched 99 (mph) tonight. The slider was good to (Josh) Naylor, then he tried to go up above, and Naylor put a good swing on it. But I don’t think anyone expected him to be lights out, but I think that the pain-free part of it, the velocity, the slider was really good,” he said.
“So all those things, those are things that you can bet on, and also given what he’s done throughout his career.”
The 10-year veteran re-assumed his role as the closer now that he has returned from the 60-day IL. Roberts said Tanner Scott will shift into a different role going forward.
Edwin Díaz back-to-back
Díaz was quickly thrown back into the mix as he pitched for the second time in as many days on Thursday night, despite it being a non-save situation.
The right-hander was far more effective as he struck out two hitters and worked a scoreless inning, despite allowing one single. At one point, he threw six consecutive fastballs, and this time it was his slider that gave up the hit.
But overall, Díaz seemed to fix his fastball troubles as he relied on it heavily to finish off the game.
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