6 Mets players to blame for terrible weekend in Tampa

No. 5 New York Mets player to blame for bad weekend: Edwin Diaz

Edwin Diaz looked not bad overall on Sunday in his first save opportunity in three weeks. He got the first two hitters out, but he gave up the game-tying home run to Randy Arozarena with two outs and two strikes in the bottom of the 9th inning on a hanging slider.

What's more disturbing is that in his outing, he threw 15 sliders to just 2 fastballs (with 2 unknown pitches), and when the save was still on the line, he only threw his slider. Two years ago, Diaz had one of the most electrifying fastballs out there with his slider being an automatic wipeout pitch. There is certainly a part of Diaz's confidence that is shot right now and it needs work fast, because if the Mets want to make the playoffs, they'll need to get Diaz back to his 2022 days.

This marked Diaz's first blown save since May 24, 2022 and when the Rays won Sunday's game in extras, Sunday's loss also marked the Mets' first loss of the season when leading after eight innings (they were previously 13-0 in such situations).

No. 6 New York Mets player to blame for bad weekend: Adam Ottavino

On Saturday, Adam Ottavino was tasked to keep Saturday's game tied at one in the bottom of the eighth inning, and he couldn't get the job done. He gave up a couple of singles and two walks, including a bases loaded walk to Austin Shenton with two outs and two strikes. He could not execute his putaway pitches, and it allowed someone like Shenton, Tampa Bay's No. 7 prospect on MLB Pipeline, to stay in the at-bat and outwork the veteran reliever.

Ottavino was charged with the loss on Saturday and another earned run when Sean Reid-Roley walked Jose Caballero with the bases loaded immediately afterwards. Ottavino also saw his scoreless appearance streak at nine outings come to an end, and saw his ERA jump from 1.54 to 2.92.