Edwin Diaz's return, save puts bow on strong bullpen effort in Mets win over Pirates

The third pitch of Edwin Diaz's return to the mound after a 10-game suspension left some doubt, but the Mets closer did not take long to find his groove on the mound after 17 days away.

Diaz pulled a fastball inside and hit Oneil Cruz to lead off his outing, but from there, it was smooth sailing.

Diaz struck out Rowdy Tellez on a 98 mph outside fastball and then induced an inning-ending double play from Andrew McCutchen to pin down a 5-2 victory for the Mets on Saturday afternoon at PNC Park. The win snapped a three-game losing streak for the Mets as they improved to 43-44.

"I feel really good. I was ready," Diaz told reporters. "I was a little bit anxious in the first hitter after I hit Cruz. I settled down, I just tried to make pitches and I made three outs."

Early on, Diaz said he was trying to be too perfect. But once he settled in, the performance from Diaz, who had been suspended since June 24 after being ejected for violating Major League Baseball's rules on sticky substances, put a cap on a strong day from the Mets' bullpen.

It was Diaz's eighth save of the season as he lowered his ERA to 4.50.

"I put it behind me after that day after I apologized to my teammates after the game," Diaz said. "I came in today and did my job and I want to keep doing my job and helping this team to win."

In his second appearance out of the bullpen, Jose Butto grabbed the victory to improve to 3-3, coming on in relief of David Peterson in the bottom of the fifth inning and tossing 1⅔ scoreless innings with one walk allowed. Butto and Diaz were joined by Reed Garrett and Dedniel Nuñez to hold the Pirates scoreless across the final 4⅔ innings.

" We've seen it when we didn't have Diaz whether it was the injury or what he went through the past 10 days, it's a totally different ballgame," Carlos Mendoza told reporters. "You've got guys throwing in situations where they're not used to and now you're able to throw Reed Garrett in the seventh or the sixth and Butto a lot earlier. It makes the puzzle. You're able to mix and match a little more aggressive."

In the seventh inning, Garrett loaded the bases on a single and a pair of one-out walks but got a lineout to Lindor and struck out Jack Suwinski to keep the Mets ahead.

Luis Torrens provided the spark at the plate, ripping a three-run double in the top of the third and finishing 3-for-4 with three RBI and a run scored. After the Pirates got within 3-2 on a two-run home run by Cruz off Peterson, the Mets got some added separation with an RBI double by Jose Iglesias and sacrifice fly by Harrison Bader in the top of the sixth.

Alvarez, who was hit by a 99 mph fastball from Paul Skenes on Friday night, caught Diaz's ninth inning on Saturday.