You just knew it would come down to a nail-biting, hide-your-eyes save situation. That’s how it works in baseball. The day you demote your closer without having a true heir apparent, the game forces you into back into that place with questions that don’t have answers.
The results?
A 9-6 gut punch of a loss to the Oakland A’s and a reminder of all the reasons why Edwin Diaz was promoted to closer on the first day of August last season.
With the announcement that Diaz had been stripped of his closing duties before Tuesday’s game following Monday night’s walk-filled debacle of a ninth inning, the Mariners, of course, found themselves trying to protect a one-run lead in the ninth inning.