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TORONTO — Edwin Diaz’s season was headed south and taking the Mets with him after he got beat in a second straight appearance last month in Arizona.
The questions from earlier this season when Diaz struggled began to resurface: Had he lost his confidence? Was he physically sound?
Since that Corbin Carroll grand slam against Diaz on Aug. 28, which sent the Mets to a crushing defeat — only three days after the Padres’ Jackson Merrill beat him with a home run in the ninth inning — the closer was again on a streak of untouchability as play began Tuesday.
Diaz entered with seven straight appearances in which he hadn’t surrendered an earned run, with only two hits and one walk allowed over seven innings during that stretch.
The positive signs include a four-seam fastball that has shown more life recently, including a return to 100-mph heat last weekend against the Reds.
He topped out at 99 mph on Monday in working a scoreless ninth against the Blue Jays for his 17th save.
After his consecutive hiccups last month, Diaz largely backed away from his slider — the pitch on which both homers were hit — but it’s been more incorporated into his arsenal lately.
“I just have to keep mixing both pitches,” Diaz said before the Mets faced the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre. “They are both really good. I just have to trust myself. I think my slider percentage was a little high this year. I throw 98-100 [mph] so I have to keep trusting my fastball.”
Diaz threw eight fastballs and four sliders in his appearance Monday.
Even with his reduction in throwing the slider over the last two weeks, he still has utilized the pitch 50.6 percent of the time this season.
“I think it just depends on the matchup and who we are playing,” pitching coach Jeremy Hefner said. “[The slider] is a pitch they can hit hard. It’s matchup dependent and whatever the matchup calls for is what we’ll throw.”
Monday night Diaz received a brief scare when Leo Jimenez jumped on a 98-mph fastball and hit a shot to deep right field that appeared to have a chance to beat the Mets.
The ball was caught by Starling Marte for the final out.
“Off the bat it looked pretty good, but at the same time I didn’t think he hit it that hard,” Diaz said. “It looked like he got it off the end of the bat a little bit and that’s why it stayed in the yard because I think if he hit it better that ball was a homer.”
In May, Diaz was temporarily removed from the closer role during a stretch in which he pitched to an 8.68 ERA and blew four saves. Diaz attributed his troubles to a lack of confidence.
Diaz’s season has also included a stint on the injured list and 10-game suspension for violating MLB rules on sticky substances.
In late July and early August he also had a three-week stretch in which he appeared in only four games.
“That might have helped him right now to have a little bit extra,” Hefner said. “I think he feels good and he sniffs the finish line and is just emptying the tank in a lot of ways.”
The Mets’ success over the final 2 ½ weeks will in part be predicated upon their ability to get Diaz the ball in save situations and the right-hander continuing to convert.
The Mets began the day one game ahead of Atlanta for the National League’s third wild card. The Mets fell four games behind Atlanta for that spot the night Diaz allowed the grand slam to Carroll in Arizona.
“I want to get the ball,” Diaz said. “Whenever they give it to me I will do my job because we can do something special here.”
