Mets' Díaz: Missed call on Merrifield's checked swing 'changed' game
New York Mets closer Edwin Díaz wasn't happy about a controversial check-swing call in the ninth inning of an eventual 5-4 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies on Monday.
Díaz appeared to have gotten Whit Merrifield to swing for strike two, but first-base umpire Ryan Additon ruled that that the Phillies utilityman held up. That resulted in a walk to load the bases with two outs with the Mets clinging to a one-run lead:
Whit Merrifield was awarded first base after this was ruled a check swing. The game would become tied one batter later after a bases loaded HBP
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Díaz subsequently hit the next batter, Alec Bohm, to tie the game. The Phillies took the lead for good on a sacrifice fly in the 10th inning by Bryson Stott, who also hit a homer to begin the ninth off the Mets' star reliever.
"That changed the game," Díaz said postgame when asked about the checked-swing call, according to Mark W. Sanchez of the New York Post. "Obviously, he swung - I saw the video."
The 30-year-old right-hander hadn't blown a two-run lead in a save situation since May 2022 prior to Monday's outing.