The Dodgers had waited three months to see Edwin Díaz back on the mound, and all year for him to look like himself.
So on Wednesday night, when the trumpets began to blare and he came trotting out of the bullpen to begin the ninth inning, it almost felt like the trade deadline had come early at a jubilant Chavez Ravine.
“I was trying to calm my emotions,” Díaz said. “And as soon as I got to the mound, it was, ‘Let’s go. Let’s make pitches. Let’s win the game.’”
In the Dodgers’ 4-2 win over the Mariners, Díaz and the Dodgers did.
In what marked his first appearance since April 19 –– having been activated from the injured list pregame following a three-month absence recovering from an elbow procedure –– Díaz was not flawless in a one-run ninth.
He gave up a ground-rule double to Dominic Canzone with one out. Then he watched another double off the bat of Josh Naylor sail over Kyle Tucker’s glove in right field.
Still, given a soft landing spot with a three-run lead in his first outing back, he limited the damage there, collected his fifth save of the season, and took a long-awaited first step in what he hopes is a resurgent closing stretch to the year.
“My first game back, I was a little bit anxious,” Díaz said. “But I threw strikes, I made pitches, and at the end of the day got the W.”
Most encouraging for Díaz on Wednesday was the renewed life behind his trademark fastball, which was up more than a full tick from his early-season struggles (averaging 96.9 mph) and topped out at 98.9 mph (harder than any he had thrown in his 10 outings at the start of the year).
The Mariners, who have seemingly been hunting fastball all series, did connect for plenty of hard contact, including a couple deep flyouts that were hit over 100 mph off the bat.
But then, Díaz adjusted, ending the game with a slider that Luke Raley rolled over to first.
“The velocity, the stuff was really good,” manager Dave Roberts said. “Obviously he gave up a run. But again, just kind of getting our bullpen back to being whole, closer to being whole, was great. Just getting him back on the team was exciting.”
Indeed, Díaz showed no ill signs of the elbow injury that had sidelined him since April, when he underwent a procedure to have loose bodies removed from his elbow.
He said pregame that both the elbow and knee discomfort that plagued him back then –– when he had a 10.50 ERA before going on the injured list –– had finally dissipated.
“I feel great,” Díaz said. “Just keep grinding. Keep getting better.”
The best part of his outing came before he even threw a pitch, with Díaz’s iconic entrance music –– “Narco” by the appropriately named Timmy Trumpet –– prompting a standing ovation from a raucous Dodger Stadium crowd.
Most fans –– who had been gifted Díaz bobbleheads on his serendipitous giveaway night –– pulled out their phones to record his entrance.
One spectator got more creative, holding a plastic beer bat to her lips to imitate the trumpeting tune.
“The fans were into it,” Díaz said. “So that’s really good.”
It was the kind of scene that, for so much of the summer, the Dodgers had missed.
The kind of result that, as the stretch run commences, they hope to get again and again out of their $69 million offseason signing.
“I don’t think anyone expected him to be lights-out, but I think that the pain-free part of it, the velocity, the slider was really good,” Roberts said. “All those things, those are things you can bet on. And, also, given what he’s done throughout his career.”
