Mets Closer Edwin Diaz Ejected for Foreign Substance Violation

A sticky situation.
Mets closer Edwin Diaz gets tossed from Sunay's Mets - Cubs game.
Mets closer Edwin Diaz gets tossed from Sunay's Mets - Cubs game. / ESPN
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The New York Mets beat the Chicago Cubs 5–2 on Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN. With a three run lead in the bottom of the ninth, the Mets brought in closer Edwin Diaz in a save situation, but he never got to throw a pitch. After warming up umpires decided they didn't like something on his hands and ejected him.

Diaz appeared to have something on his right hand when a camera zoomed in during the group discussion that took place right before he was ejected. Since umpires gave him his glove back before he left the field, we can presume that there wasn't anything suspicious there.

Diaz was replaced by Drew Smith, who probably thought he had the night off moments before he recorded the first two outs of the inning. After Smith gave up a hit, he was replaced by Jake Diekman, who struck out Patrick Wisdom to end the game and get the save.

This is by far the stickiest situation the Mets have been in during the Grimace era.


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Stephen Douglas
STEPHEN DOUGLAS

Stephen Douglas is a Senior Writer on the Breaking & Trending News Team at Sports Illustrated. He has been in journalism and media since 2008, and now casts a wide net with coverage across all sports. Stephen spent more than a decade with The Big Lead and has previously written for Uproxx and The Sporting News. He has three children, two degrees and one now unverified Twitter account.