LOS ANGELES -- A Dodger Stadium crowd of 46,105 serenaded closer Edwin Diaz with a loud chorus of boos as he walked off the mound late Thursday night.
Diaz had inherited a two-run ninth-inning lead against the first-place Milwaukee Brewers and watched it evaporate. The Los Angeles Dodgers ultimately lost 5-4 on a night when Roki Sasaki overcame bouts of wildness and five high-leverage relievers were used after him.
The second-to-last of those, Diaz, has now blown three saves in his past four appearances. His ERA, 14 appearances into a $69 million contract, is 11.57.
In spite of that, the Dodgers plan to stick with him as their closer.
“It’s frustrating because I know my ability,” Diaz said. “I know what I can do on the mound. To not be able to do it, it sucks.”
Seven appearances into his Dodgers tenure, Diaz underwent surgery to remove loose bodies from his right elbow and missed more than three months. Upon return, he immediately took over as the closer. Trouble followed soon after.
When Diaz checked into a one-run game in Phoenix on Friday, he surrendered a two-run, walk-off home run to Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder Ryan Waldschmidt. The following night, he allowed the D-backs to tie the score on Corbin Carroll’s ninth-inning triple. Diaz bounced back with a 1-2-3 ninth inning against the last-place Kansas City Royals on Monday, but the struggles reemerged three days later.
Trailing 4-2 in the top of the ninth, the Brewers got back-to-back one-out singles from Joey Ortiz and David Hamilton on fastballs near the middle of the strike zone, putting runners on the corners. Jackson Chourio and Garrett Mitchell followed with base hits to right field off sliders on the edges, tying the score. After Diaz struck out Gary Sanchez for the second out, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts brought in lefty Alex Vesia, who gave up the go-ahead run on a single to Jake Bauers.
After it was over, Diaz, 32, lamented the command of his heater.
“I was throwing my fastball right in the middle,” he said. “When you miss in the middle, you pay.”
The Dodgers -- fresh off sweeping the Royals, though on the heels of eight losses in nine games -- have a 4.71 bullpen ERA since the start of July, 23rd in the majors. When asked whether he would consider temporarily removing Diaz from the high-pressure stakes of the ninth inning, providing him more space to try to find himself, Roberts had a rhetorical response.
“Give me another option,” he said.
One is certainly Tanner Scott, who was effectively closing games while Diaz was away, though the Dodgers prefer to use him in a more versatile role late in games. Other potential options -- Evan Phillips, Alex Vesia and Edgardo Henriquez -- have been slightly inconsistent. A closer-by-committee approach is not an option, Roberts added, if others don’t throw the ball better. There’s also an element of not taking Diaz out of his comfort zone just yet.
“It’s just not that easy when a guy’s done it for seven, eight years, whatever it is, to change routines,” Roberts said. “Part of my job is to give him the best opportunity to prepare and have success, and then it goes to the player to kind of go out there and do their job.”
The Dodgers experienced something similar last year, when Scott struggled mightily in the first of a four-year, $72 million contract. It wasn’t until the following season that Scott got back to the dominant form the Dodgers were expecting. The hope is it doesn’t take Diaz as long.
The Dodgers maintain an eight-game cushion in the National League West, but they’re a half-game back of the Atlanta Braves for the second-best record in the NL and, thus, a first-round bye. Just as important in this moment, they’re in the middle of a stretch of 13 games in 13 days, the type that tends to tax relievers.
The Dodgers’ bullpen is at its best if Diaz can lock down the ninth and everyone else can settle in elsewhere, but opposing hitters are slashing .375/.462/.643 against him.
“I’ve just got to find a way to pitch better,” Diaz said. “I’ve been in this position before, and I’ve been able to find a way to get better. I’ve just got to sit down with the pitching coaches to see what I’m missing and what they say to see if we can fix it.”
