Edwin Diaz isn’t planning on changing anything.
The Mets’ closer was ejected from the team’s 5-2 win over the Cubs on Sunday night at Wrigley Field in Chicago after umpires checked his hands for sticky substances.
Diaz was coming in to close the game out in the ninth inning but never got to throw a pitch.
He claimed after the game the stickiness on his hand was simply a result of sweat and rosin and that it wasn’t any more sticky than usual.
“I think it’s the same [stickiness],” Diaz said. “They always check me, they let me pitch. But today it was hotter than earlier in the season, I don’t know, they thought it was stickier, so I take the suspension.
“I will keep using the same thing because they didn’t find anything in my glove, my hat, my belt. I will keep using [the same thing].”
Diaz denied using any illegal substance.
“I was really surprised because I didn’t have anything on my hand, my glove, my belt,” Diaz said. “They always check my hat, everything. And they thought that was sticky a lot. I said ‘you could check my hand, smell my hand,’ and they didn’t smell anything, but they threw me out of the game.”
But crew chief Vic Carapazza was confident it was more than just rosin.
“It definitely wasn’t rosin and sweat,” Carapazza told a pool reporter. “We’ve checked thousands of these. I know what that feeling is. This was very sticky.”
Diaz will now face an automatic 10-game suspension, though he can appeal it.
The Mets can’t replace him on the roster during the suspension, either.
“Yeah, look, we’ve been through a lot this year, and we’ll find a way to get through it,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “We’ll continue to piece it together. Guys are going to have to step up. I’m pretty confident that we’ll get guys here that are going to get us to the finish line here when he’s done.”