Mets pay for sitting Edwin Diaz for second consecutive night

Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Mike Puma about the inside buzz on the Mets.This was ninth-inning déjà vu in the worst way possible for the Mets.For a second consecutive day, they trailed the Diamondbacks by a run.

Carlos Mendoza kept Edwin Díaz — his All-Star closer who’d fully warmed up Wednesday and Thursday — in the bullpen, instead opting for a second inning of Chris Devenski and a second inning of Reed Garrett, respectively.And both of those calls backfired.In the latest, Garrett surrendered a ninth-inning homer that allowed the Diamondbacks to tack on an insurance run during the Mets’ 4-2 loss at Citi Field.

A chance to start their final round of at-bats with the tying run at the plate evaporated.And though Mendoza insisted that Díaz, who has thrown just once (Saturday) since exiting an April 23 outing against the Phillies with a left hip cramp, is healthy, it’s clear that the Mets manager has operated with extreme caution when it comes to the most important piece of a bullpen.

Díaz is tied for fourth in the majors (119 ¹/₃) in innings thrown this season.“He’s fine,” Mendoza said of Díaz.“He got up [Wednesday] if it was tied.

[Thursday], if it was tied or better he was gonna come into the game.”The Mets are in a stretch of their schedule that includes 13 games in a row and 26 in 27 days, but it was at least strange that Díaz, who has collected a 4.50 ERA with seven saves across his 12 appearances this season, didn’t appear in either of the high-leverage spots the past two games despite warming up.After Mendoza stuck with Devenski, pitching in his first game with the Mets and on the way back to Triple-A Syracuse before Thursday’s game even began, the right-hander allowed a leadoff walk, a double and consecutive sacrifice flies.In a July or August game, using Díaz in that spot would’ve been a “no-brainer,” Mendoza said before Wednesday’s game.But the ...