CHICAGO — What should have been a feel-good performance and nice segue into the Subway Series for the Mets turned into something of a demoralizing win Sunday night.
Edwin Diaz was ejected after entering for the bottom of the ninth inning after umpires inspected his right hand and glove and deemed him in violation of MLB’s rules on sticky substances.
Drew Smith and Jake Diekman were summoned to get the final three outs of the Mets’ 5-2 victory over the Cubs at Wrigley Field, but Diaz now faces a 10-game suspension — during which the team can’t replace him on the roster — for the sticky substance ejection.
“We’ll pay the price, but we’ll use this as a teaching moment,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “But guys will find a way to get through it.”
Diaz said he used the same combination of sweat, rosin and dirt that he usually employs on the mound to get a better grip on the ball. He said he was informed by umpiring crew chief Vic Carapazza that the amount of substance on his right hand was in excess and by rule he was ejected.
The Mets had two pitchers — Max Scherzer and Smith — ejected and suspended last year for what was deemed a violation of the sticky substance rule.
“I understood, but at the end of the day I was using sweat, rosin and I put my hand on the dirt,” Diaz said.
“It’s tough, because I will let my teammates down for 10 games. That sucks, because coming from the [injured list], I have been good to help this team to win and now being out 10 more days really sucks.”
Diaz can appeal his suspension, but will face a losing battle given that the judge and jury will be MLB officials using the report from Carapazza and his crew as the overriding evidence.
Diaz said he believes the umpires were under the assumption he was using an illegal substance. The right-hander offered to let them smell his hand and conduct other testing, but said by that point a decision had already been reached. Diaz said he doesn’t plan to change anything about his ritual with the sweat, dirt and rosin because it’s nothing different than he usually does.
Smith was thrust into the game on short notice and after getting two outs, with a hit allowed, was replaced by Diekman out of fears he would injure himself. Diekman recorded the final out.
In a test of guts to get through the sixth inning, Luis Severino prevailed and helped the Mets win the series.
Severino’s six shutout innings were a marked improvement from his Tuesday outing in Texas in which he surrendered six earned runs. On this night the Mets received homers from Francisco Lindor, Brandon Nimmo and Mark Vientos in winning a fourth straight series and improving to 13-6 in June.
Severino was originally supposed to face his former team, the Yankees, on Tuesday. But late last week Mendoza adjusted the rotation and moved David Peterson to the Subway Series opener. Severino started against the Cubs instead. Mendoza’s stated reasoning was he wanted a right-hander to face the Cubs and lefty against the Yankees.
But Severino admitted to The Post he was “a little bit” disappointed he wouldn’t get to face the Yankees this week and said he would push to pitch in the second installment of the Subway Series, after the All-Star break in the Bronx.
Severino rolled into the sixth against the Cubs, but allowed a leadoff single to Miguel Amaya before plunking Nico Hoerner. After Michael Busch struck out, Severino waged an epic battle with Cody Bellinger and won. Bellinger struck out on the 12th pitch of the at-bat. Mendoza visited the mound and stuck with Severino, who fell behind 2-0 in the count to Seiya Suzuki before retiring the Cubs DH on a fly to center.
All told, Severino struck out 10 — his first time this season reaching double digits — and allowed three hits without walking a batter over 102 pitches.
Severino continued his dominance against the Cubs this season. On April 29 he took a no-hitter into the eighth inning against them at Citi Field before Dansby Swanson singled and Severino, who allowed one run, took a no-decision in a game the Mets lost 3-1.
Lindor and Nimmo on this night went back-to-back with homers in the third against Javier Assad that gave the Mets a 3-0 lead. After Harrison Bader’s double in the inning, Lindor worked the count full and lofted a fly ball to left that kept carrying into the bleachers. Nimmo followed with a homer into the same area. It marked the third time this season the Mets hit back-to-back homers. Nimmo’s homer was his fourth in his last six games and gave him 11 for the season. Lindor’s homer was his 13th — leaving him three behind Pete Alonso for the team lead.
Bader’s double in the fifth — almost a carbon copy of the grounder he sent along the third-base line in his previous at-bat — helped the Mets extend their lead to 4-0 in the fifth. Lindor was hit by a pitch, and following a double steal, Nimmo walked to load the bases before J.D. Martinez’s groundout brought in the run.
Assad, who entered with a 2.75 ERA, lasted only 4 ¹/₃ innings and allowed four earned runs on seven hits with one walk. The right-hander allowed only one run over five innings when he faced the Mets on April 30 at Citi Field.
The Cubs struck against Dedniel Nunez in the seventh. After Ian Happ’s leadoff single, Christopher Morel hit a 420-foot homer to center that sliced the Mets’ lead to 4-2.
Vientos countered with a 451-foot bomb to center field in the eighth that extended the Mets’ lead to 5-2.