Edwin Diaz thriving with his changing Mets workload

Edwin Díaz doesn’t typically need much help from anyone when he’s on his game — as he has been lately. 

But he sure got some in his four-out save in Wednesday’s 6-3 win over the Angels at Citi Field, when he struck out Luis Rengifo looking with two on and two out to end the top of the eighth. 

All three called strikes were well outside the zone, which led Angels interim manager Ray Montgomery to get tossed after the inning. 

Díaz said he hadn’t seen the replays of the at-bat, but the closer wasn’t complaining. 

“I leave that to the umpire,’’ Díaz said. “If he calls it a strike, I’ll take it. Some pitches in the [strike] zone go the other way and today, maybe I was lucky to get those calls. I’m good with that.” 

And Díaz is also good with his recent workload. 

In Wednesday’s win, he got more than three outs for the third time in his past eight appearances after doing so just twice in his first 32 outings. 

Part of it is a product of an undermanned bullpen. Another is that with the season more than half over, Díaz said he’s prepared for the added outs. 

“When I feel good, I feel good,’’ Díaz said. “Today, I felt good. Anytime they need me, if I physically can go out there and compete, I will. Early in the season, pitching one inning is usually better, but now that the second half has started, and we’re competing to make the playoffs, we’ve got to win games and I’ve got to be ready to get more outs.” 

Díaz ended up throwing 25 pitches, his second-highest total of the season, one of which was particularly scary. 

After escaping the eighth, an inning in which Díaz clipped Travis d’Arnaud as soon as he replaced Brooks Raley, Díaz drilled Chris Taylor square in the helmet with a 96 mph four-seam fastball with the first pitch of the ninth. 

Taylor stayed down for a moment, but stayed in the game — and Díaz quickly went back to work. 

His next pitch was a 97 mph four-seamer on the outside corner to Zach Neto, who struck out. Díaz retired the next two batters to finish the game. 

“I didn’t do it on purpose,’’ Díaz said of the Taylor pitch. “So I knew I could make the next pitch. I just gripped the ball harder. It was so dry today that I didn’t have a good grip on the ball. Then I was able to throw more strikes and stay on top of the ball.” 

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Carlos Mendoza pointed to the Mets being off Thursday as a reason he felt comfortable pushing Díaz, who was pitching for the third time in four days — with Ryne Stanek closing out Tuesday’s win over the Angels. 

Overall, Díaz has tossed 15 ¹/₃ scoreless innings over his past 15 appearances, and has allowed just one earned run in his past 31 innings. 

And since a rocky start to the season, Díaz has been among the top handful of relievers in the sport, giving the Mets considerable security at the closer spot as they look to upgrade their bullpen prior to the July 31 trade deadline.